Columbia family accused of jury tampering, stalking juror in major SC drug trial

Four people at a recent major Columbia federal drug trafficking trial allegedly stalked a juror as he was driving home and offered him money to sabotage any jury verdict, court records show.

But the juror promptly reported the jury tampering attempt to court officials, according to court records.

Now those four people, one of whom was a defendant in the ongoing drug trafficking trial, have been indicted by a federal grand jury for allegedly trying to sabotage that trial, which took place in August at the federal courthouse in Columbia.

The four people indicted are Terrence Dunlap, Vera Dunlap, Trecika Dunlap and Tressie Dunlap. All were related to Terrence Dunlap, one of five defendants then on trial for drug conspiracy and related charges. At the time, Terrence Dunlap was out on bond and wearing a GPS ankle monitor.

Specifically, the indictment, issued last week, charges the four Dunlaps with obstruction of justice and jury tampering. Vera Dunlap is Terrence Dunlap’s mother, Tressie Dunlap is his father, and Trecika Dunlap is his sister, according to court records. The Dunlaps live in an unincorporated area about seven miles north of Columbia.

“The alleged activity is a very rare occurrence in South Carolina and certainly has the full attention of the U.S. Attorney’s Office,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Lance Crick.

Jurors are looked upon as one of the key foundations of American law. Efforts to taint a jury verdict are regarded as extremely serious. During most trials, jurors are repeatedly instructed they must be impartial and not discuss the case with anyone until after the trial.

Court records tell the prosecution’s story of what happened on the evening of Aug. 19. After court ended that day, the Dunlaps allegedly followed the juror, referred to in court records as Juror 211, from Columbia north on Interstate 77 toward the juror’s Chester County home.

At exit ramp 62 off I-77, the juror — who had noticed a white Lexus SUV following him — pulled to a stop and the SUV pulled up beside him. The SUV’s window rolled down, and a woman in the car spoke to him.

“Our son is on trial and those white police and cops only want to lock up young black men,” she said to him, according to what the juror later told the FBI, an account detailed in a criminal complaint in the case.

Another person in the car told him they “just need one juror to say not guilty, and if one juror holds out, they can’t do nothing,” according to the complaint.

Another person in the car told the juror that they would pay the juror money “if he would help them,” the complaint said.

Then Terrence Dunlap, the defendant in the then-ongoing drug case, spoke up, according to the complaint. He allegedly told Juror 211 that he “had nothing to do with the crimes and that he did not know ‘those guys’ “ — a reference to his co-defendants in the trial.

Juror 211 repeatedly told the Dunlaps that he would have to report them to the judge, according to the complaint.

The next morning, Aug. 20, Juror 211 told court officials about the incident. He was taken off the jury and his position filled by an alternate. The FBI began investigating and found video and other evidence backing up Juror 211’s version of events, according to the complaint.

The alleged jury tampering incident halted the ongoing drug trial for about three hours while Judge Mary Lewis questioned other jurors to see if they had been tainted in any way. She also installed an alternate juror on the case.

In the end, the jury found Terrence Dunlap and his four co-defendants guilty of multiple counts of drug-related charges in August after an eight-day trial. Prosecutors had presented evidence showing the five defendants were participants in a South Carolina drug ring trafficking cocaine and heroin in Columbia and Marion County. The drugs had been shipped in from Mexico, evidence showed.

On Tuesday, lawyers for three of the Dunlaps had little comment after being reached by a reporter.

Elizabeth Franklin-Best, who represents Vera Dunlap, declined comment, as did Ian Duggan, who represents Tressie Dunlap.

Chris Mills, who represents Terrence Dunlap, noted that the case is in its early stages and, “At this point, we are just waiting to see the government’s evidence so we can begin evaluating it.”

Federal public defender Dan Leonardi, who represents Tricika Dunlap, could not be reached.

Columbia attorney Jack Swerling, who represented one of Terrence Dunlap’s co-defendants in the August drug trial, has been practicing criminal law in South Carolina for more than 40 years.

Asked Monday if he had heard of any other jury tampering cases in the state taking place during that time, Swerling replied, “Never.”