Pascoe beefs up his SC public corruption team with 3 sitting solicitors

David Pascoe, the special prosecutor investigating public corruption in the S.C. General Assembly, has enlisted the aid of three veteran elected solicitors.

Legal papers filed by a defense lawyer last week with the State Grand Jury assert Pascoe has a “prosecution team” that includes 16th Judicial Circuit Solicitor Kevin Brackett, of York County, and 9th Judicial Circuit Solicitor Scarlett Wilson, of Charleston.

Wilson said Friday, “I can confirm I, along with several other solicitors, was sworn into the grand jury so that Solicitor Pascoe would have additional resources.”

Duffie Stone, of the 14th Judicial Circuit, is also part of the team, according to sources familiar with the investigation.

When asked about a team, Pascoe said, “No comment.”

There are 16 solicitors in South Carolina. They are the chief prosecutors of criminal cases in their districts, which are usually two or more counties. Pascoe, based in Orangeburg, is 1st Circuit Solicitor. He is a Democrat. Brackett, Stone and Wilson are Republicans.

It is unclear what role Brackett, Stone and Wilson are playing, or how much time they are devoting to the case.

To discuss evidence gathered by the confidential State Grand Jury, people have to be sworn in by the clerk of the State Grand Jury.

John Crangle, an ethics expert who wrote a book on the state’s last big General Assembly public corruption case, Operation Lost Trust in the 1990s, said it’s possible the investigation has dimensions that extend into the geographic areas where the solicitors are based.

Or Pascoe might be using them as “sounding boards” to review decisions he is thinking about, Crangle said.

In any case, given the demands of overseeing their offices, and that each is based far from Columbia, the center of the investigation, it’s unlikely they’re working full time on the case.

The information about Wilson and Brackett was contained in a defense motion for indicted state Sen. John Courson, R-Richland, filed by Courson’s lawyer, Rose Mary Parham, of Florence.

In the motion, Parham asks prosecutors to preserve all electronic and other data “relevant to the issues in this case and to future claims of malicious prosecution, selective prosecution, false arrest and abuse of process …”

The request for preservation of communications and records extends specifically to Pascoe and his fellow prosecutors, her request said.

“We are just covering all the bases,” Parham said Friday.

Courson, 72, a veteran and widely respected lawmaker, has said through his attorney he is innocent of the charges of misconduct and converting campaign money to personal use. He has been suspended from office. Parham is seeking a speedy trial.

This story was originally published March 31, 2017 at 6:37 PM with the headline "Pascoe beefs up his SC public corruption team with 3 sitting solicitors."