Prosecutors endorse Metts’ plea for mercy, no prison, lawyers say

Former Lexington County Sheriff James Metts and his lawyers are begging for mercy, asking a federal judge Wednesday to not sentence him to prison.

Federal prosecutors, according to Metts’ attorneys’ filings, are willing to go along with that.

Citing medical reasons and Metts’ long history of public service and civic outreach, federal prosecutors support “a non-incarcerative sentence,” the 52-page document says.

Metts would like a “sentence of probation that includes a period of home confinement and which requires significant community service,” the attorneys’ filing says.

As of Wednesday evening, federal prosecutors had not filed any sentencing recommendation. Efforts to reach U.S. Attorney Bill Nettles were unsuccessful.

Metts – who at the time he resigned in December was South Carolina’s longest-serving sheriff, at nearly 42 years – is scheduled to be sentenced Monday in federal court in Columbia. Judge Terry Wooten will preside.

In December, Wooten rejected a plea bargain between prosecutors and Metts’ attorneys that would have given Metts no prison time.

Wooten said then he was especially concerned that Metts, who pleaded guilty to one count of harboring illegal immigrants, violated public trust.

Metts pleaded guilty to a felony charge of conspiring to keep two immigrants from being processed in 2011 at the county jail he once oversaw. Prosecutors said a friend gave a middleman money to give to Metts to release the pair so they could work in the friend’s restaurant.

Nine other charges against him, including taking bribes for freeing the immigrants, were dropped in return for his guilty plea.

The new filing by his lawyers calls his crime an “isolated mistake.” It cites Metts’ long record of service and generosity to charities.

“The crime to which he pleaded guilty is an aberration,” the filing says. “His mistake in judgment in this crime is inconsistent with the rest of his life.”

It also says he has severe medical conditions that require 20 daily medications that would be difficult to administer in prison.

At 68, Metts would be an “elderly” prison inmate costing far more to watch over than someone younger, the filings said.

Included in the filings are excerpts of some 15 letters from Metts’ friends and doctors supporting the requests for no time in prison, selected from what his lawyers said were more than 100 letters supporting the former sheriff.

“He protected the helpless, the young, the battered, the bruised and the lost,” Robert Milam III of Chapin wrote, according to the filings.

The pleas for mercy come after a pre-sentence report, prepared by federal probation officials, that recommends a stint in prison from 10-16 months, Metts’ attorneys filing said.

However, “on the unique facts of this case, the advisory guideline is too harsh ... and the goals of sentencing would be satisfied” by a lesser sentence, the lawyers argue.

The filing gives previously unknown details of Metts’ health, saying his “myriad health problems are likely to receive inadequate treatment during incarceration and could be exacerbated by incarceration.”

Metts’ medical problems include diabetes, neuropathy, coronary artery disease, hypertension, degenerative joint disease, Bell’s Palsy, skin cancer, depression and anxiety, the petition says.

“These conditions require regular monitoring of his status and as many as 20 daily medications,” the filing says.

According to cardiologist Dr. Benjamin Jones, Metts must take “a relatively complex regimen of daily medications that would be difficult to replicate in prison, which would include the use of insulin and checking glucose up to six times a day,” the filing says. Failure to properly take medicine could have serious consequences, it says.

Metts’ age also puts him at increased risk for contagious diseases and falls, his filing continues.

“It costs approximately $34,000 per year to house an average prisoner, but over $68,000 per year to house a prisoner age 50 and older,” it says.

Metts’ petition dwelt extensively on what it called his “exceptional” charitable works and employment.

After being elected sheriff in 1972 to lead a staff of 15 deputies, Metts grew the department to 500 deputies and other employees while starting numerous innovations that modernized crime-fighting, targeted drug dealers, thieves and protected children and other potential crime victims, it says.

He also was a key founder of the S.C. Sheriffs’ Association, the filing continues. Today, that group is an influential lobbying organization.

Metts and his department also conducted numerous outreach efforts to children’s, civic, charity, business and church groups across Lexington County, the petition says.

Metts’ mother and father – a World War II decorated combat veteran – raised him in Columbia and taught him “valuable lessons about hard work, service to others, education and the importance of an education. His father shared much wisdom about life’s trials and temptations,” the filing says.

Metts’ mother “taught her children the value of caring for, and serving others” and Metts’ character “was tremendously influenced by his parents,” its says.

Other influences in Metts’ early life were Boy Scout master Harland Drew and Eau Claire High School football coach Art Baker, it says. Metts was and remains an Eagle Scout, it adds.

Metts was devastated by his criminal conviction and harm to his reputation.

“He was near retirement and had envisioned leaving the sheriff’s office with well wishes and praise for a job well done,” the filing says. “Instead ... he has been stripped of his prior accomplishments and his name removed from buildings. Organizations to which he dedicated so much time and effort are now ashamed to be associated with him.”

The filing says, “No elected official would want to live through Sheriff Metts’ last two years.”

It notes that Metts’ father died in 1999 and that his mother is still alive and 92. “He always wanted to make his father proud enough to say, ‘This is my son,’” it says.

This story was originally published April 22, 2015 at 4:03 PM with the headline "Prosecutors endorse Metts’ plea for mercy, no prison, lawyers say."