South Carolina

TexasTowelie

(116,493 posts) Tue Jan 5, 2021, 07:48 AM Jan 2021

Magistrate Judges Took Bribes, Stole Money and Mishandled Cases. South Carolina Officials Now Want

Magistrate Judges Took Bribes, Stole Money and Mishandled Cases. South Carolina Officials Now Want Reform.

COLUMBIA, S.C. — When the South Carolina legislature reconvenes next week, lawmakers say a priority will be ramping up their scrutiny of local magistrate judges, many of whom are among the state’s busiest but least qualified jurists.

A 2019 series by The Post and Courier and ProPublica exposed how a flawed system of selection and oversight provided fertile ground for incompetence and corruption on the bench.

Hand-picked by politicians, some magistrates were found to have accepted bribes, stolen money, flubbed trials, trampled over constitutional protections and mishandled even the most basic elements of criminal cases.

And though they handle hundreds of thousands of misdemeanor and civil cases every year, roughly three-quarters of the state’s magistrates have never practiced law in their life, the investigation found.

Read more: https://www.propublica.org/article/magistrate-judges-took-bribes-stole-money-and-mishandled-cases-south-carolina-officials-now-want-reform

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Magistrate Judges Took Bribes, Stole Money and Mishandled Cases. South Carolina Officials Now Want (Original Post) TexasTowelie Jan 2021 OP

WHAT?!!! HOW? TigressDem Jan 2021 #1

Wait...Those Are Bad Things, Right? COL Mustard Jan 2021 #2

Virginia has more or less the same arrangement with Magistrates. no_hypocrisy Jan 2021 #3

TigressDem

(5,125 posts)

1. WHAT?!!! HOW?

Reply to TexasTowelie (Original post)

Tue Jan 5, 2021, 07:51 AM

Jan 2021

HOW do you handle legal cases without practicing law ever before? I mean at least they have a law degree? Maybe newbie?

It can't be legal to put someone in that position who hasn't even taken bar exam?

snip

they handle hundreds of thousands of misdemeanor and civil cases every year, roughly three-quarters of the state’s magistrates have never practiced law in their life....

COL Mustard

(6,851 posts)

2. Wait...Those Are Bad Things, Right?

Reply to TexasTowelie (Original post)

Tue Jan 5, 2021, 07:53 AM

Jan 2021

Just want to be sure. The legal picture changes from time to time.

no_hypocrisy

(48,627 posts)

3. Virginia has more or less the same arrangement with Magistrates.

Reply to TexasTowelie (Original post)

Tue Jan 5, 2021, 07:57 AM

Jan 2021

Not judges who may (or may not) have experience in even pedestrian matters such as municipal traffic law.

Joe Blow can be a Magistrate and "wing" justice without fulling knowing the law. It's a system that just invites corruption.

I practice law in a small town in NJ. While the municipal judges may side more times than not with the Police, against my clients, at least I have a shot at appeals as it's presumed that the judge knows the law and/or can do appropriate legal analysis.

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