Special prosecutor Pascoe under fire, and firing back, in SC Supreme Court

For more than an hour Thursday, South Carolina’s five state Supreme Court justices peppered special prosecutor David Pascoe and opposing attorney Bobby Stepp with questions about whether Pascoe’s 2018 conviction of a powerful former state lawmaker on public corruption charges should be overturned.

“This trial was a mess,” said Stepp, who represents former State Rep. Jim Harrison, R-Richland, and told the justices that Pascoe “was guilty of misconduct with a small “M”... If this was a perfect trial, then I despair for our criminal justice system.” Stepp continued: “This prosecution just went off the rails.”

Pascoe, who won a conviction for perjury and misconduct against Harrison from a Richland County jury, argued his case himself. He told the justices the verdict should stand.

“The defendant didn’t just receive a fair trial,” said Pascoe. “He received a perfect trial.”

Harrison’s guilt or innocence wasn’t argued Thursday. The Richland County jury that convicted him heard overwhelming evidence from witnesses and documents that showed that Harrison while a state lawmaker had secretly and illegally taken nearly $900,000 from the influential consulting firm of Richard Quinn and Associates.

For years, Harrison was chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, and Pascoe’s case to the jury was that Harrison had basically taken the money to influence legislation that the Quinn firm’s clients had an interest in.

What was in dispute before the high court was whether Pascoe had exceeded his lawful authority as a special prosecutor appointed by Attorney General Alan Wilson to investigate potential targets named in a confidential section of a State Law Enforcement Division report on allegations of financial wrong-doing in the General Assembly.

Wilson’s office had wanted Pascoe to handle the case because Wilson was friends with at least one of the two lawmakers named in the SLED report. Wilson was also close to Richard Quinn, principal owner of Richard Quinn and Associates, once a powerful political consulting firm.

Stepp told the justices that Wilson’s office had given Pascoe only the authority to pursue criminal charges against former Reps. Rick Quinn, R-Lexington, and Rep. Jim Merrill, R-Berkeley.

”Jim Harrison’s rights have been violated. His conviction should be vacated,” Stepp told the justices.

Going after Harrison, who was not named in the SLED report, was “an unlawful extension of authority” and violated Harrison’s constitutional rights, Stepp said.

Associate Justice George “Buck” James asked Stepp if constitutional rights “in some instances ... take precedence over the bad guy getting caught and convicted?”

Stepp replied that criminals should go free if their constitutional rights are violated. “In every instance that (constitutional rights) take precedence. That’s just fundamental.”

Stepp also argued that Pascoe should have asked permission from Attorney General Wilson to investigate people like Richard Quinn and Harrison, whose activities came under suspicion during Pascoe’s and the State Law Enforcement Division’s investigation.

Associate Justice Kaye Hearn, reacting to Stepp’s assertion that Pascoe should have sought permission from Attorney General Wilson to conduct a broad investigation of Richard Quinn-related matters, asked, “Given that it was widely known that the Attorney General’s disqualification was related to his relationship with Quinn ... why isn’t it absurd to suggest that Mr. Pascoe should have contacted the attorney general?”

Stepp said “it’s not absurd because that’s what the Constitution and grand jury act both require.” If the Attorney General didn’t think he had a conflict, Pascoe could have made an objection to a judge, Stepp said. ”You got to follow the rules.”

In his argument, Pascoe told the justices his office had the full authority “to act as attorney general” for the investigation and he — and law officers from SLED and the FBI — could follow the evidence where it led.

Harrison wasn’t out of bounds because the Richard Quinn & Associates firm was named in the confidential SLED report, and secret payments to Harrison — “one of the General Assembly’s most powerful members” — were discovered during the investigation of the Quinn firm, Pascoe said.

Harrison was “paid $84,000 a year” by the Quinn firm and intentionally didn’t file those payments, Pascoe said. “He lied to the public, to press and to the grand jury,” Pascoe said.

“Harrison was an employee of Richard Quinn & Associates, and we didn’t know that when we started investigating Richard Quinn & Associates,” Pascoe told the justices.

At another hearing earlier this year involving Pascoe’s investigation, justices publicly fretted about how long Pascoe was going to keep his probe going.

Associate Justice John Kittredge mentioned Thursday that Pascoe seemed to think he could investigate for years all kinds of conceivable matters related to Quinn. “My question is, where do we go from here ... what is left to do?”

Pascoe smiled. “Here’s the good news — we are done.”

So far in his probe of General Assembly corruption, Pascoe has gotten three once-sitting lawmakers to plead guilty to misconduct and resign office. They are Rick Quinn, Merrill and former Sen. John Courson, R-Richland. Another misconduct charge is pending against former state lawmaker Rep. Tracy Edge, R-Horry, and perjury charges are pending against Richard Quinn.

This story was originally published June 11, 2020 at 6:32 PM.