SC sheriff rips 'crying judge' after defendant with lengthy record is again arrested

Less than a year after Kershaw County Sheriff Jim Matthews slammed a "bleeding heart" judge for what he said was a lenient sentence for a repeat offender, Matthews again is directing his ire at the judge after the same man was arrested over the weekend.

"No surprise here," Matthews said in a release Monday announcing the arrest of Tyreek Bush-Robinson. "We were very confident that we would be dealing again with Bush-Robinson. His actions once again endangered innocent people and resulted in the destruction of private property. 'Catch and release' is still with us."

Bush-Robinson fled a traffic safety checkpoint in Lugoff early Saturday morning when a state trooper asked him about the smell of marijuana coming from inside his vehicle, th"e release stated. A Kershaw County deputy pursued Bush-Robinson, who eventually crashed into a parked car at the Bridle Ridge Apartments.

He is charged with possession with intent to distribute marijuana-second offense and failure to stop for blue lights, and has been released from jail on $8,000 bond, according to the sheriff's office. Deputies have contacted the S.C. Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services, since Bush-Robinson is on probation.

Bush-Robinson had seven prior arrests and faced four to eight years in prison when he stood before Circuit Court Judge Alison Lee last June on charges for multiple vehicle break-ins, receiving stolen goods, possession of a stolen firearm and unlawful possession of a firearm, the release states. Matthews said the prosecutor and Bush-Robinson's defense attorney made a plea agreement that included a prison sentence of four to eight years, but Lee "ignored" that agreement and sentenced Bush-Robinson to time served.

Bush-Robinson's attorney read a statement in court that brought Lee to tears, according to a deputy who was in the courtroom, Matthews said. Counting the amount of time Bush-Robinson was in jail awaiting his court date, the sentence allowed him to walk away that day, the sheriff said.

"As one might expect, judges have the right to accept or deny a plea agreement," Matthews said in the release Monday. "But when a defense attorney and prosecutor agree on one, which also has to be agreed upon by the defendant, the judges generally go with the plea agreement. Judge Lee did a great disservice to the victims in these crimes and now Bush-Robinson is in trouble once again."

Lee was roundly criticized in 2013 when she reduced bond for two accused violent criminals, one of whom, Lorenzo Young, later was charged with killing Kelly Hunnewell while the mother of four worked in a bakery off Beltline Boulevard.

A message left for Lee was not immediately returned Monday afternoon. She told The State after Matthews' comments last year that proposals for Bush-Robinson's sentencing were not presented as any type of agreement or deal, and that the prosecutor and defense each made a recommendation in the case.

"They were not the same," she said at the time. "There was not an agreement on what was recommended. I was free to accept or reject the recommendations."

Camden attorney George Speedy, who represented Bush-Robinson in his charges last year, could not be reached for this story on Monday. But he told The State in July that Lee saw a "thread of hope" in his client.

"The judge believed that this kid deserved a change in life," he said at the time. "There is absolutely nothing wrong with that."

Speedy, too, said there was no agreement between him and the prosecutor.

In a separate opinion piece published in The State at the time, Fifth Circuit Solicitor Dan Johnson called it "unfair" and "bad public policy to attack judges about a single case."

This story was originally published April 30, 2018 at 3:27 PM with the headline "SC sheriff rips 'crying judge' after defendant with lengthy record is again arrested."