COLOMBIA – A competitive election for a seat in South Carolina’s second highest court turned into a contentious dispute over the wife of the Mayor of Columbia, making questionable allegations of political prejudice in the final weeks of the dispute.
SC Circuit Court Judge DeAndrea Benjamin of Columbia is seeking a promotion to the Court of Appeals and will face off on Wednesday in the annual legislative elections of the legislature against Family Court judge Jay Vinson of Florence.
Both candidates have dozens of lawmakers attesting to their credentials for the post, but criticism of Benjamin by conservative political figures outside the state chamber has angered his supporters, who say she is being unjustly maligned by her marriage to the Democratic mayor of Columbia, Steve Benjamin.
Greenville businessman John Warren, who unsuccessfully challenged Governor Henry McMaster in the 2018 Republican Party primaries and is considering another campaign in 2022, claimed that Benjamin is a “liberal Democratic activist”.
The only evidence cited in an email to supporters of Warren’s political advocacy group, “The Conservative Future of South Carolina”, is the fact that one law firm she worked in before she became a judge, the Gist Law Firm, made donations to Democratic candidates.
Benjamin made no personal donations to any Democratic or Republican candidate, and she left the company when she joined the bench a decade ago.
Vinson became a judge in 2004 and left the McDougall & Self law firm, which also made donations to Democratic candidates, according to state fundraising disclosures.
Asked about that Friday, Warren said it shows that “the process doesn’t work” because legislators in the Republican-dominated legislature are forced to choose between two “liberal judges”.
“Since Republicans now have a super-majority in the legislature, we should not be electing Democratic activists for South Carolina courts,” Warren said.
In a statement, Benjamin said he takes his oath as a judge seriously.
“I am fair and impartial and I treat everyone who comes to my court with dignity and respect,” she said.
South Carolina is currently one of only two states where lawmakers select judges. A selection committee of 10 people, six of whom are legislators, chooses the three main candidates, who are then voted on by the rest of the General Assembly.
Warren supports the move to a system similar to that of federal judges, whereby the governor would nominate judicial candidates and the legislature would vote whether to confirm them or not.
In an interview with the Post and Courier, Warren also criticized Benjamin for bailing one of the suspects in the high-profile murder case of Kelly Hunnewell, a single mother shot dead in Columbia in 2013, accusing her of “leaving criminals dangerous. in the street.”
But the suspect Warren criticized Benjamin for releasing was finally found not guilty in the murder case. He has since been charged with drug possession with the intention of distributing and resisting arrest.
Warren’s effort has attracted the condemnation of many supporters of Benjamin, who say the Republican businessman is using the judicial race to raise his own political profile.
“Warren is politicizing this in a quest to become the next governor,” said state senator Dick Harpootlian, D-Columbia. “I think his conduct in this context in which he made allegations that were not based on facts simply to polish his conservative credentials shows why he is not qualified to be governor.”
Warren said the accusation was “a departure from the real problems in question”.
“I’m going to support things that help South Carolinaians, that’s my reason,” said Warren.
He also said that Benjamin’s husband is not relevant to his criticism of her.
“Trial lawyers lawmakers seem upset with the people of South Carolina expressing their concerns about the corrupt judicial selection process,” added Warren. “They are finally realizing that voters want and expect more from their government.”
Benjamin has the support of some conservative Republican lawmakers, especially in Midlands, her home country, including state deputy Nathan Ballentine, R-Chapin, who said she considers her the most qualified.
“You can’t make decisions in this business based on who screams the loudest or who sends the most emails,” said Ballentine. “You can separate any judge’s record, just as you can separate any senator or deputy. You will never please everyone. The justice system must be blind.”
Benjamin also faced attacks for some of his decisions by political blogger Will Folks, who wrote on his website FITSNews that he believes Benjamin is “unfit to be a judge”.
In addition to the Hunnewell case, Folks criticized Benjamin for granting Albertus Lewis a $ 150,000 bail after a 2017 murder case. Lewis was released in 2019 after bail and was recently charged with attempted murder for shooting county sheriff deputies. of Lexington.
But Benjamin initially denied any ties to Lewis shortly after his arrest in 2017, as did another judge, who ordered the state to hear the case. Benjamin said she did not post bail until many months later, after prosecutors failed to comply with those orders, which raised constitutional issues of detention without trial. Sarah Jurick, Richland County’s assistant public defender who represented Lewis, confirmed the timeline.
Lewis finally bailed out in July 2019 and was then charged with shooting Lexington more than a year later. People said he wrote about the case because he was concerned about public safety in his home county and offered Benjamin’s supporters the opportunity to respond to criticism on his website.
The lawyers who worked on cases in Benjamin’s court say the notion that she is lenient with crime is absurd. Fielding Pringle, a public defender in Columbia, said that while she admires Benjamin, she is not a judge that defense lawyers would seek to establish bail.
“Judges have a reputation, and hers is that of a deliberate, courteous, restrained and considerate lawyer who follows the law,” said Pringle. “‘Leniente’ is not a word you will hear around here to describe this judge.”
Benjamin’s supporters note that she would be the first African American woman to serve on the South Carolina Court of Appeals and also fear that this has an important factor in the dispute. Vinson is white.
“Systemic racism is alive and well in these court races and everything, and I hate that she has to pay the price,” state Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, D-Orangeburg, said.
This is not the first judicial race in which Benjamin was caught in the middle of a political dispute. In her 2010 candidacy for a Family Court judge, some supporters of her opponent allegedly felt she was using her influential husband to make progress, while Benjamin’s allies said it was unfair.
Now, supporters of Benjamin say that factor is coming into play again.
“I just feel bad that she doesn’t have men and women in the legislature who can appreciate that she is an individual woman competing on her own merits and should be considered on her own merits,” said Cobb-Hunter.
Steve Benjamin declined to comment.
Lawmakers who support Vinson say it is nothing personal against Benjamin. State Representative Murrell Smith, R-Sumter, said he thinks she is a “wonderful judge”, but has a long relationship with Vinson that led him to support him.
“We have two very qualified candidates and there are difficult choices,” said Smith.