EXCLUSIVE: First challenger to Myers announces candidacy for 11th Circuit prosecutor

A veteran prosecutor on Friday became the first candidate to say he will challenge the state’s longest-serving solicitor.

Larry Wedekind, 53, resigned Thursday as a prosecutor with the State Grand Jury so he can seek to become the first new 11th Circuit solicitor since 1976, when Donnie Myers became chief prosecutor in Lexington, Edgefield, Saluda and McCormick counties.

Wedekind is not likely to be the last candidate to oppose the 70-year-old Myers, who has said he will seek an 11th, four-year term in the fall. Lexington County election records show that no one has challenged Myers since voters put him in the job.

“He’s been there 40 years,” Wedekind said. “I just think it’s time for a change.”

If re-elected, Myers faces being forced out of office when he turns 72, at the end of 2017 – early in his term – because of the state’s mandatory retirement age for prosecutors and judges.

Myers earns nearly $143,000, according to his latest financial disclosure filings.

Wedekind, a Chapin resident, said he worked for the tough-minded Myers for 12 years. But he said he never tried a case with Myers, who is known for courtroom theatrics and flashy attire. Wedekind also was a prosecutor in Richland and Kershaw counties for three years before joining Myers’ office.

Wedekind said he’s been planning for a while to seek the 11th Circuit seat when filing opens March 16.

“My getting in today is not contingent on what happened Monday,” he said of Myers arrest by the Highway Patrol on a drunken driving charge, Myers’ third alcohol-related driving offense in 11 years.

“This recent DUI thing just kind of expedited my plans by about 2 1/2 weeks,” the announced candidate said. “I like Donnie personally. You can’t work with somebody that long if you don’t like them.”

Myers’ critics have been searching for a challenger, questioning his fitness because of his problems with alcohol.

A Baltimore native, Wedekind began his career on the prosecutorial side of courtrooms in 1997 when he took a job in the Attorney General’s office, fighting appeals of people convicted in criminal court. He has a degree from The Citadel graduate and the University of South Carolina’s law school.

His experience as a prosecutor carried into his military life. During two National Guard deployments to Afghanistan, Wedekind prosecuted soldiers who violated military law and later conducted detention hearings for al-Qaida and Taliban prisoners Bagram prison. Now a lieutenant colonel in the S.C. Army National Guard, Wedekind said he also mentored Afghan prosecutors and judges.

Asked what changes he would make if elected to succeed Myers, Wedekind said he would be in the office more. Myers, Wedekind said, showed up for work for a couple hours on most days during Wedekind’s dozen years working for the incumbent.

Efforts to reach Myers for comment were unsuccessful.

Wedekind said he expects other election challengers. “I would be surprised if I was the only one.”

This story was originally published February 26, 2016 at 4:04 PM with the headline "EXCLUSIVE: First challenger to Myers announces candidacy for 11th Circuit prosecutor."