Trial set for former Richland County Council member accused of public corruption
Nearly five years after being indicted on public corruption charges, former Richland County Councilwoman Dalhi Myers is now set to have her day in court.
Myers was indicted by a state grand jury in December 2020 on two dozen counts of public corruption based on her alleged misdeeds while serving as a Richland County councilwoman. Following a slew of judge reassignments, a trial has been set for Sept. 29, according to the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office.
Myers, who served on the county council from 2016 to 2020, faces 24 charges that include misconduct in office, use of official position for personal gain, embezzlement, writing a fraudulent check, and use of campaign funds for personal expenses. Most of the indictments allege she used county taxpayer money for personal use.
During her initial court appearance, Myers was represented by Columbia attorney Deborah Barbier. In 2024, Myers hired additional counsel, Shaun Kent, according to the attorney general’s office.
Barbier said she’s looking forward to the trial, but declined to comment further.
Kent could not be reached for comment Wednesday afternoon.
The majority of the charges come from trips Myers took between 2018 and 2019 using a county credit card, according to the indictment.
In February 2019, she used her county credit card for a week-long personal trip to Greece, the indictment said. She paid for a plane ticket, hotels, restaurant bills and other purchases with taxpayer money.
During Myers’ arraignment in 2020, prosecutor Creighton Waters told a judge that before her trip to Greece, Myers flew through Newark, New Jersey, “so she could stalk Magic Johnson and Richard Seymour,” Waters said. Johnson is a retired NBA all-star and Seymour, a Lower Richland High School graduate, played for the NFL’s New England Patriots and the Oakland Raiders.
Waters was the lead prosecutor during Alex Murdaugh’s double-murder trial in Colleton County in 2023.
Myers’ indictments followed an investigation by The State newspaper earlier in 2020 that revealed the potential misuse of county credit card funds, including Myers spending thousands on a trip to Greece, department stores and at Barnes & Noble Booksellers.
When the newspaper initially submitted a request for the spending records, Myers attempted to repay the county for the expenses by writing a $27,000 check. That check subsequently bounced twice, prosecutors allege.
Myers is set to appear before Circuit Judge Brian M. Gibbons, and the case will be prosecuted by Waters, Assistant Attorney General Johnny Ellis James Jr., and Assistant Attorney General John Conrad.
