View PDF - Fourteenth Circuit Solicitor`s Office

Fourteenth Circuit Solicitor’s Office
Summary of operations
A message from Solicitor Duffie Stone
S
ince being sworn in as Solicitor on January 1, 2006, I have been fortunate to work with
an outstanding group of lawyers, victim service providers and administrative professionals. Together, we have dedicated ourselves to having a professional prosecution
office that is efficient and effective.
One of the first changes was to install a vertical prosecution system throughout the office. This
means that every case is assigned a prosecutor who stays with it from arrest to conclusion. This
system holds the prosecutor accountable for all decisions pertaining to a case, including charging decisions and sentence recommendations. It also provides a continuity of service for crime
victims.
We then made two improvements to the vertical prosecution system:
• In 2006, an on-call component was added so that law enforcement had access to a lawyer 24
-hours a day. The on-call lawyer is tasked with providing whatever legal assistance the officer
in the field requires and is available to go to the crime scene at a moment's notice. This has the
added benefit of helping the prosecutor prepare their cases from the beginning, in many cases
before arrest.
• In 2007, we tripled the number of victim advocates in the circuit so each team of prosecutors would have their own victim support specialist who is available at all times, just as attorneys are.
At the same time we were making those changes, we were lobbying the S.C. General Assembly
for special legislation allowing us to prosecute domestic violence offenders in the same courtroom as murderers, rapists and burglars. State Senators Brad Hutto, Scott Richardson, Clementa
Pinckney and John Matthews along with state Representative Bill Herbkersman were able to get
the law changed. Today, our circuit is the only in the state that prosecutes first-offense criminal
domestic violence in General Sessions Court.
Continued on following page
Improving public safety and our quality of life
T
he best way to improve public safety is to effectively prosecute the worst offenders
who are responsible for a great deal of the crime in our communities. In 2009, we
started one of our most successful programs, the Career Criminal Prosecution Team.
This team of experienced lawyers, victim advocates and investigators focus on prosecuting repeat offenders, or career criminals. Since its inception, the team has prosecuted more
than 250 hardened criminals in all five counties with a conviction rate exceeding 90 percent.
“It is a team dedicated to prosecuting these career criminals based on how bad
the individual is, not the specific crime they are charged with. These people take
more work to prosecute. It takes more expertise. It takes more time.”
- Solicitor Duffie Stone, Island Packet 6/18/2008
By partnering with the S.C. Attorney General's Office and the U.S. Attorney's Office, we have
worked together to investigate and prosecute gang members and other career criminals. Counties and municipalities who have helped fund the team have garnered statewide recognition for
intergovernmental cooperation and success.
These are just a few of the improvements we have made in the Fourteenth Circuit Solicitor's
Office, changes that have led to a dramatic reduction in the circuit's backlog of old cases. They
have reduced overcrowding in our jails by moving career criminals out and on to prison. This
has saved Beaufort County taxpayers millions of dollars in jail costs.
I am grateful to everyone who has helped us achieve a more professional, efficient and effective
prosecution office. I hope you find this report informative. Please contact me if I can be of service.
Yours sincerely,
Solicitor Duffie Stone
Fourteenth Circuit Solicitor’s Office
Post Office Box 1880
Bluffton, South Carolina 29910
843.255.5893
[email protected]
Thank you to our many partners
M
any of our accomplishments would not have been possible without the assistance of other
agencies with whom we have formed partnerships.
In the area of prosecution, we work closely with the S.C. Attorney General and his investigative grand jury to uncover and prosecute gang activity in Beaufort and Colleton Counties. We joined
forces with the United States Attorney to prosecute career criminals in whichever jurisdiction has the
stiffer sentence.
We work with S.C. Department of Public Safety on a number of federal grants. These grants provide a
Violence Against Women Prosecution Team, a Transfer Court team and an attorney to prosecute drunk
drivers.
Our biggest partnership is with Beaufort, Colleton and Jasper Counties along with Hilton Head Island,
Bluffton, Hardeeville and Ridgeland. This local support coupled with a partnership with the United
States Justice Department created the Career Criminal Prosecution Unit, which has resulted in the conviction of more than 250 repeat offenders throughout the circuit.
In 2007, the bipartisan legislative delegation that serves residents of the Fourteenth Judicial Circuit
helped us become more effective by passing special legislation enabling us to prosecute first-time domestic violence offenders in the same court as murderers and rapists. We are the only circuit in the state
with that ability.
A partnership with the State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) has improved our intelligencegathering capabilities. This information gives our attorneys the necessary proof to argue for higher
bonds and harsher sentences. In 2011, officials with SLED's Fusion Center, the state's law enforcement
intelligence center, helped us hire, train and certify our own intelligence analyst. This analyst gathers
information from a number of sources, including state and national databases. We have access to millions of dollars worth of hardware and software at no cost to our office.
Our partners also help us in the area of prevention. The S.C. Department of Public Safety and the Town
of Hilton Head Island help us maintain the Beaufort County Adult Multi-Disciplinary Court and the
Beaufort County Juvenile Multi-Disciplinary Court. These courts use substance abuse treatment, mental
health counseling and weekly court hearings to both hold non-violent offenders accountable for their
actions and to correct the underlying reasons they have committed crimes.
We worked with Beaufort County to produce and air anti-meth public service announcements. These ads
are targeted toward our youth and show the dangers of methamphetamines. Similarly, we have worked
with Adventure Radio and Citizens Opposed to Domestic Abuse (CODA) to produce public service announcements urging victims of domestic violence and witnesses of abuse to contact law enforcement.
Finally, we partnered with Chief Justice Jean Toal and the South Carolina Judicial Department to improve court efficiency. In 2006, we installed the state's first computerized case management system to
streamline docket management. Three years later, we consolidated court weeks in Beaufort County. Instead of having one judge for two weeks a month, we now have two judges for one week a month. This
allows us to use one courtroom for trials and another for guilty pleas and other hearings, enabling us to
prosecute more cases than before. It has the additional benefit of requiring fewer jurors, therefore saving
the county money and residents time.
We are thankful for these many partnerships because they make our office more effective and help make
the community safer.
Vertical prosecution and the on-call system
T
he Fourteenth Circuit Solicitor’s Office operates with a vertical prosecution system.
In some prosecutor's offices, a case is handled by different lawyers depending on
where the case is in the judicial system. One attorney may handle the charging decisions. One may handle the preliminary hearing and a different attorney may prosecute
the case at trial. This horizontal scheme, in many instances, inhibits a constant flow of information and leads to poorly prosecuted cases because no one lawyer is truly an expert of any particular case. It is also difficult for the victim to understand a system that is always in flux.
The vertical prosecution system mandates that a single prosecutor handle a case from arrest to
final disposition. This system allows for constant communication among the prosecutor handling the case, law enforcement and victims. It further aids in accountability. One prosecutor
handles all of the proceedings. That single prosecutor is responsible for the outcome. Accountability leads to better prosecution.
A prosecutor is always just a phone call away
Vertical prosecution also allows for an on-call program. This makes attorneys available for law
enforcement whenever they have questions or need legal advice, which is usually in the field.
The general idea behind the on-call system is that it fosters better communication between the
prosecutor's office and law enforcement. There are specific benefits as well.
Many times law enforcement officers face difficult legal issues that arise during their investigations. These issues may involve search and seizure law, the law concerning confessions or
charging decisions. In these cases, the officer can call an assistant solicitor day or night. This
increased communication leads to better police work and better prosecution.
The on-call system also benefits the prosecution. The on-call prosecutor will handle the case
from arrest through final disposition. As early as bond court, which is held within 24 hours of
arrest, the prosecutor is familiar with the facts and the law of the case and can make an intelligent and coherent argument to the bond court judge concerning the defendant's risk of flight
and danger to the community. This early knowledge of the case aids the prosecutor with preparing indictments, arguing for probable cause at the preliminary hearing and preparing the case
for trial.
The Career Criminal Unit: Tough prosecutors getting results
M
ost experienced law enforcement officials agree that a small percentage of criminals commit the majority of crime. These repeat offenders do not specialize in
any one type of crime. Instead, the same criminals that break into our homes
shoot people in our streets. These same offenders sell drugs and rob people. Career criminals do not limit themselves to one particular location. Many of the same criminals
who terrorize Beaufort County also do so in Colleton County, Jasper County and the rest of our
circuit.
In order to improve public safety, we must focus our efforts on removing these career criminals
from society. This was the impetus for the creation of our Career Criminal Prosecution Unit, a
team of experienced prosecutors and investigators who focus solely on sending the worst of the
worst to prison. The team targets criminals regardless of the crime or where it took place.
A small group of criminals responsible for many
crimes
1200
1000
800
600
400
200
In January 2009, we founded the
team in Beaufort County thanks to a
joint effort among Beaufort County,
the Town of Hilton Head Island and
the Town of Bluffton. Soon thereafter, the team was expanded to cover
all five counties thanks to assistance
from Colleton County, Jasper
County, the Town of Ridgeland, the
City of Hardeeville and a grant from
the U.S. Department of Justice.
0
Beaufort
County
Western
Total
Counties
Number of defendants
The team has prosecuted repeat offenders in all five counties of the
Fourteenth Judicial Circuit. These
Number of charges
career criminals have committed
more than 40 different types of crime. Criminals prosecuted by the team are charged with an
average of four crimes a piece. Most have extensive criminal histories. Fifty-nine percent were
previously convicted of at least two different crimes. Twenty-four percent had at least six prior
convictions.
Career criminals are identified in one of three ways: prior criminal record, prior criminal history
and the level of violence displayed. Seventy percent of the career criminals fall in the first category; they have prior convictions on their records. Some offenders, however, were targeted because of their history, even though it might not include prior convictions. These offenders previously evaded justice, but the team knew about their previous cases and was successfully able
to hold them accountable for their crimes. Finally, some criminals are so violent that their history is irrelevant. Most of these offenders are murderers or rapists. In 2011, the office added an
intelligence analyst trained and certified by the State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) to
help identify offenders.
Since its inception, the Career Criminal Prosecution Team has successfully prosecuted more
than 250 repeat offenders throughout the circuit. The team has consistently achieved a conviction rate in excess of 90 percent. They are responsible for eight life sentences in 2011 alone.
Percentage with prior adult record
Unknown
6%
No Prior Record
26%
Prior Record
68%
How extensive of a criminal past?
40
35%
Number of Defendants
35
30
26%
24%
25
20
15
10
6%
9%
5
0
Unknown Prior
Record
No Prior Record 1 Prior Conviction
2-5 Priors
6 or More Priors
NOTABLE CAREER CRIMINAL CASES
In 2007, Denver Simmons returned to the Round O home where he had recently been renting
a room and waited for the homeowner, 45-year-old Sheila Dodd, to return. He shot her, stole
her car and debit card and headed to a Walterboro pizza restaurant, where he ate lunch. In the
afternoon, he used the car to pick up the woman's 13-year-old son, took him home and shot
him to death as well. After attempting to burn both bodies, Simmons fled to Tennessee where
he was captured. He pleaded guilty in 2011 to both murders and was sentenced to two life sentences.
Upon his conviction in 2011, the attorney prosecuting Rodriques Carter declared that "public
enemy number one" had been taken off the streets of Hampton County. In September 2009,
less than six months after being acquitted of a sexual assault, a woman awoke in her bed to
find that Carter kneeling beside her bed staring at her. He choked and raped her. Afterward,
she attempted to run out of the house, but was subdued and raped again. Carter fell asleep and
she was able to flee. He was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison. Authorities suspect
Carter was involved in several other sexual assaults in the same area.
Jaquawn Brewer was flashing gang symbols
and a handgun inside a crowded Burton nightclub in 2009. When he was asked to leave,
Brewer fired five shots and continued shooting
on his was out of the building. One round
struck 44-year-old Henry Jones in the temple,
killing him, and a second hit a 21-year-old man
in the leg. A jury found him guilty and he was
sentenced to life in prison.
In June 2007, three men
burst into a Hampton
County convenience store.
During the robbery, Joseph
Davis shot and killed the
store's owner, Ronnie
Wooten. Davis, also a suspect in another area murder, was convicted and sentenced to life in
prison.
Calvin Shedrick had long been a career criminal in Beaufort County. In 2009, while on federal parole for robbing an area bank, he robbed a home at gunpoint, stealing about $30 and 10
dime bags of marijuana. After one of the victims initially refused to hand over drugs, Shedrick
fired one shot, narrowly missing a 5-month-old boy who was being shielded by his father.
Shedrick’s idea was that he could keep on robbing drug dealers and no one would care. The
reality is that it doesn’t matter who the victim is. Calvin Shedrick is an opportunist, a career
criminal who wouldn’t hesitate to victimize or hurt anybody so long as he thought he could get
away with it. The judge agreed and sentenced him to life in prison.
The incident involving Alfonzo Howard and Lorenzo Hicks was as tragic
as it was brazen. The two men were convicted of abducting a Tennessee couple from Beaufort’s waterfront park in 2006 and raping the woman as her
helpless husband was forced to watch. Howard, the ringleader, was sentenced to six life terms and Hicks was sentenced to 20 years. Both offenders
had prior convictions
It took more than two years to make the case, but science and eyewitness testimony converged
to solve a 2007 Allendale murder. After two witnesses heard Marques Breeland make comments about killing Laurice Garvin, authorities were closing in on their suspect, but the final
proof wouldn't come until another shooting two years later. A ballistics test of the bullets concluded that they were the same used in the 2009 shooting in which Breeland, AKA Roadkill,
had pleaded guilty. A jury found Breeland guilty and he was sentenced to life in prison.
The Career Criminal Unit: Moving jail inmates to prison
C
ounty jails are funded by local tax dollars. Overcrowded detention facilities cost the
county hundreds of thousands of dollars and potentially millions of dollars in new
construction. Conditions can become quite dangerous for the correctional officers
tasked with maintaining order.
Traditionally, officials have tackled the problem of jail overcrowding by setting lower bonds,
reducing sentences, creating diversion programs and by using electronic monitoring. These
early release mechanisms are not appropriate for the hardened criminal. Allowing the career
criminal back on the streets is neither safe nor economically smart. Repeat offenders will most
likely return, this time leaving additional victims in their wake.
The Career Criminal Prosecution Team is a non-traditional approach to reducing jail overcrowding. The team focuses on quickly and effectively prosecuting career criminals in our local
detention centers and moving them on to prison, where they belong and where they are no
longer a drain on local resources.
“Saving taxpayers’ money and improving community safety are not mutually
-exclusive endeavors. I believe we are accomplishing both goals by
expeditiously getting repeat offenders off of the streets and out of the county
detention center, moving them on to where they truly belong: the state
penitentiary.”
- Solicitor Duffie Stone
In 2008, there were 440 inmates in the Beaufort County Detention Center, which was built in
the 1990s to accommodate 195 inmates and was expanded in 2004 to hold 255 prisoners. Due
to the overcrowding, the county retrofitted a gymnasium with bunk beds as a temporary fix to
ease the problem. County officials had begun discussing expanding the jail again, which had an
estimated price tag of between $11 and $40 million. Instead, the county joined with Bluffton
and Hilton Head Island to fund the Career Criminal Prosecution Team.
Within six months, the team cut the number of long-term detainees in half. By December 2009,
the detention center was under capacity. It has stayed under capacity for the past two years. As
a result, Beaufort County has saved millions of dollars.
Public safety is a core function of government. It is the one thing every citizen has a right to
expect. Detention center overcrowding is a problem throughout South Carolina and the country.
The Career Criminal Prosecution Unit addresses this problem, while keeping the community
safe.
Clearing our county jails
Number of Beaufort pretrial detainees
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
Se
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No 8
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Ja 8
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M 9
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Ju 9
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Ja 9
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M 10
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-1
Ju 0
lS e 10
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No 0
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Ja 0
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M 1
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M 11
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0
Award-winning collaboration
The Career Criminal Prosecution Unit received statewide recognition in July
2011 when the project won the Barrett C. Lawrimore Regional Cooperation
Award from the S.C. Association of Counties. The award recognized not only
the project's results, but also the foresight and cooperation of officials
throughout Beaufort and Jasper Counties, Hilton Head Island, Bluffton,
Hardeeville and Ridgeland.
Arming prosecutors with the evidence they need
T
he latest improvement to the Fourteenth Circuit Solicitor's Office is the creation of an
intelligence center to identify career criminals and gather the evidence required to
bring them to justice.
In June 2011, our office partnered with the State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) Fusion
Center to create a nerve center from our Career Criminal Prosecution Unit. The Fusion Center
is SLED's database and information clearinghouse for law enforcement records in the state.
They are also linked to a plethora of other state and national databases. As part of this partnership, SLED trained and certified an analyst who works for our office. SLED then gave us access to millions of dollars worth of equipment, databases and software free-of-charge.
At 7 a.m. each day, our analyst contacts all five jails in our circuit to retrieve the names of everyone who was arrested the previous night. He then runs those prisoners through a number of
systems to determine their prior criminal history, their associates and gang affiliations, if applicable. He then compares their information with our career criminal protocol to determine
whether or not the defendant should be prosecuted by the Career Criminal Prosecution Unit. He
notifies the on-call career criminal prosecutor and provides them with the information. The lawyer is then armed with the information they need to argue for a high bond.
This flow of information continues as the prosecutor prepares the case for trial. At sentencing,
the attorney can use this intelligence to argue for an appropriate sentence.
NOTABLE CASES
In December 2011, our office prosecuted Terry Dean Swanger for the beating death of his
girlfriend. Swanger pleaded guilty to the crime and Judge Carmen Mullen sentenced him to
life in prison. The intelligence center played an integral role in the successful prosecution of
this case.
Using the Fusion Center's database of police reports from throughout the state, our analyst
was able to uncover a pattern of abuse by Swanger, who had been involved in three previous
incidents of domestic violence against two other women. In each incident, Swanger beat,
choked and forced his victim to the ground, where he stomped and kicked them.
Using this information, we asked the pathologist to compare the bottom of Swanger's boots with the pattern of
bruising on the deceased victim. They were consistent. This information provided a clear picture that Swanger had
killed his girlfriend, how he did it and why we considered him a career criminal.
The conviction of Shag Qu-Tee Marshall highlights the new investigative capabilities of
the Fourteenth Circuit Solicitor's Office. Working with Colleton County Sheriff’s Deputies,
the Career Criminal Investigative Unit was able to help methodically retrace Marshall's steps
and put together enough evidence to quickly put him behind bars for the rest of his days.
Marshall had been romantically involved with a woman, who was also dating a Colleton
County man. Two days prior to the incident, Marshall stole a gun from his uncle. He then
went to Camden, bought a bus ticket and rode to Walterboro. Marshall walked many miles
across town to confront his rival, a journey that took half a day. He knocked on the door and
was let in by two teenagers, who had assumed he was a friend of their brother. Moments
later, he brandished a handgun and fatally shot 15-year-old Calvin Fishburne, Jr. in the head.
He continued firing, grazing a 17-year-old. Marshall, who was found hiding in a nearby field, pleaded guilty two
months later and was sentenced to life in prison.
A more efficient criminal justice system
V
ertical prosecution, the on-call system and the Career Criminal Prosecution Unit have dramatically improved the efficiency of the criminal justice system.
In January 2009, there were 6,155 pending cases in the Fourteenth Judicial Circuit. These
cases represent what most think of as a backlog. The larger the backlog, the longer it takes to get a case
to trial. By January 2012, the office had reduced the backlog by 47 percent. In Beaufort County alone,
prosecutors, victim's advocates and support staff worked together to cut the backlog in half. In January
2012, there were only 1,473 pending cases in Beaufort, a 53 percent reduction from the number pending
three years earlier.
The Solicitor's Office reduced this backlog despite a consistent influx of new cases, which averages
about 5,000 a year. More than half of the caseload stems from arrests made in Beaufort County.
An efficient docket means more effective prosecution. The fewer pending cases, the quicker prosecutors
are able to move forward with incoming cases. This gives victims their day in court and holds offenders
accountable for their actions. Ultimately, the speed of prosecution is crucial to improving public safety
because it means offenders are less likely to post bond and be back out on the streets before their case
comes to a conclusion.
2009-2012 Circuit Caseload Summary
Pending First of Period
Cases Added
Cases Disposed
7170
6155
5822
5199
5192
4801
4521
4184
3554
3274
2009
2010
2011
2012
An emphasis on prosecuting domestic violence
T
he first four murder cases the Solicitor's Office prosecuted in 2006 were domestic murders. In
three of the four, the batterer had beaten the victim before and the level of abuse escalated. It
was clear that domestic violence was prevalent in the circuit.
Crime statistics backed that up. In 2000, State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) crime rates showed
that the Fourteenth Circuit was one of the most violent circuits in the state for domestic abuse. There
were more victims of domestic assaults than in the more populated circuit that encompasses Columbia.
Our circuit needed a new approach to handling domestic violence. In 2006, help came from our bipartisan legislative delegation. Together, we lobbied for a new law that allowed our office to prosecute domestic violence cases in General Sessions Court rather than in Magistrate's Court. Senators Brad Hutto,
Scott Richardson, Clementa Pinckney and John Matthews along with state Representative Bill Herbkersman introduced and pushed legislation for the change. The bill met with resistance from a few other legislators, but our delegation persevered.
This law allows the Fourteenth Circuit Solicitor's Office to prosecute domestic batterers in the same
courtrooms as murderers, rapists and armed robbers. We are the only circuit in the state able to do so. It
allows us to use vertical prosecution, the on-call system and other resources already in place to professionally prosecute these offenders in hopes of breaking the cycle of abuse before the level of violence
escalates.
Lawyers and victim's advocates now provide support within 24 hours of the arrest. We work with nonprofit organizations such as CODA to connect victims to additional services such as emergency shelter
and help getting protection orders.
Using grants from the State Office of Victim Assistance and the State Department of Public Safety, the
Solicitor's Office hired more victim's advocates and attorneys to dedicate to domestic violence prosecution. The office works with Adventure Radio and Citizens Opposed to Domestic Abuse to raise awareness of domestic abuse and to offer assistance to victims and witnesses of this crime.
These efforts have been extremely effective. The State Department of Public Safety published a report in
2011 showing a decrease in the number of domestic violence victims in every county in the Fourteenth
Circuit. As a whole, domestic violence was down by 34 percent in the circuit. This success could not
have been possible without the assistance of area legislators, CODA, the State Department of Public
Safety, the State Office of Victim Assistance and finally the dedication of law enforcement officers
throughout all 3,200 square miles of the Fourteenth Circuit.
Number of Domestic Violence Victims
6000
4000
2000
0
2005
2009
Allendale
Beaufort
Colleton
Hampton
Jasper
Total
2005
162
2748
945
306
592
4753
2009
100
1861
716
157
317
3151
-38%
-32%
-24%
-49%
-46%
-34%
SOURCE: South Carolina Department of Public Safety
NOTABLE DOMESTIC VIOLENCE CASES
A bitter custody battle led to a gruesome 2006 murder in Ridgeland. Leonard Lovett
showed up to his mother-in-law's house three times on the same night in February
2006, demanding to see his children. Law enforcement had been called out to diffuse
the situation twice.
Lovett, who was armed with a shotgun, waited until the officers left and then shot off
the lock on the front door. He shot his mother-in-law, Patsy Riley Grant, two times,
leaving her to bleed to death on the couch. Lovett then brutally beat his wife with the
butt of the gun. She spent 90 days in a hospital hooked to a feeding tube and was confined to a wheelchair upon her release. The incident took place in front of his 16-year-old son. Neighbors heard the gunshots and called police. Lovett, who was found hiding in an abandoned trailer, plead guilty and was sentenced to life in prison.
Charles McCormick had been separated from his wife, Ellen, a Hilton Head Island
real estate agent. In the days prior to her death, Ellen had been so fearful of her estranged husband that she had already changed the locks and was in the process of
installing a security system that included a panic button on her keychain.
On New Year's Day 2006, Charles McCormick left his sister's house nearby with a
vodka tonic in-hand and forced his way into Ellen's home. During a struggle, he
pushed her onto the ground, muffled her screams with a pillow and shot her in the
head with a shotgun. He then tried to cover his tracks by burning down the home with gasoline and propane cylinder, but was unsuccessful.
During the trial, 29 witnesses testified and 90 pieces of evidence were introduced, including DNA evidence from under Ellen's fingernails matching that of her estranged husband. It took a jury about a little
more than an hour to convict Charles McCormick of all charges. He was sentenced to life plus 30 years.
Jose Herrera was a gang-banger from Los Angeles who moved to the Lowcountry
after he got out of prison even though he was on parole. Pledging to change, he
charmed his way into the life of a single mother who worked with at-risk elementary
school students. Herrera eventually murdered Catherine Aust by shooting her in the
head during one of many quarrels inside their Okatie home. Her young daughter was
in another bedroom during the incident. Herrera was sentenced to life in prison in
2009.
The murder of 21-year-old Yvette Monik Moorer was the unfortunate yet inevitable
conclusion to a violent relationship. In March 2006, her ex-boyfriend, Cedrick
Saunders, spotted Moorer's car at her new boyfriend's home. He followed her up US
21 until they reached the Whale Branch River, where he pulled up along side her and
fired a shot into her left temple, killing both her and her unborn child. Saunders was
sentenced to two consecutive life sentences.
The murder highlights the escalating nature of domestic violence. In 2004, Saunders
was convicted of choking her and ripping out her car speakers. In 2005, he punched
her at a nursing home where she had worked. A month later, he struck her car window with the
same .357-caliber revolver he would eventually use for the murder.
Worthless Check Program
Helping businesses and individuals collect owed money
One of the victim's services offered by the Solicitor's Office helps merchants small and large
recoup financial losses resulting from bad checks. Since 2009, the office has recovered nearly
$2 million in restitution owed to individuals and businesses throughout the five-county area.
The Worthless Check Program is offered free-of-charge to victims of bad checks. Fees collected from the offender fund the program.
Prior to the Worthless Check Program, victims of bounced checks had to recover what they
were owed on their own. The process was tedious and time-consuming. When someone received a bad check, they had to send a certified letter to the check-writer's address. This assumed that the writer put the proper address on the check. Once the certified letter was sent, the
victim had to wait 15 days before they could go to a magistrate and ask for a courtesy summons. The magistrate would then send a letter to the check-writer requesting that they come to
court. If the person showed up, the victim would have to present the check and certified letter to
the court and would then have to testify. In many instances, the offender would request a jury
trial. This postponed the process and cost the victim more time and money.
With the Worthless Check Program, the victim sends the check to our office and we take it
from there. The Solicitor's Office finds and notifies the offender and collects the restitution. If
the offender does not pay, the office swears out a warrant for their arrest. If the case goes to
court, the office sends an attorney to prosecute the case.
In Beaufort County, the Worthless Check Program has recovered 82 percent of all money owed
from bounced checks. Equally as important, is that the program allowings the business owner to
spend more time focusing on their business and less time in the courtroom.
County
2008
2009
2010
2011
Total
Beaufort
0*
$177,049
$179,345
$116,213
$472,607
Allendale
$57,242
$45,579
$42,239
$32,945
$178,005
Colleton
$112,772
$166,844
$95,790
$57,787
$433,193
Hampton
$127,475
$123,557
$110,504
$133,734
$495,270
Jasper
$101,838
$130,428
$90,479
$71,717
$394,462
Total collected
$399,327
$643,457
$518,357
$412,396
$1,973,537
* Program launched in Beaufort County at the beginning of 2009