RJ May’s federal child porn distribution trial expected to last 6 days
Former state Rep. RJ May’s trial on 10 counts of distributing child pornography is expected to take place in October and last six days, prosecutors said Wednesday.
During a 20-minute status hearing at the Columbia federal courthouse, Judge Cameron McGowan Currie set jury selection for Oct. 8 with the trial beginning Oct. 9.
But May’s public defender, Jenny Smith, said she planned to ask the court to throw out the original search warrant used to seize electronics from May’s house. That motion will be due Sept. 10, with a response from prosecutors due Sept. 22. The next status hearing will be Sept. 24.
In August 2024, federal law enforcement seized one Lenovo laptop, one Amazon tablet, four cell phones, four hard drives, four SD cards, two DVD-Rs and 19 thumb drives from May’s house.
“It’s an incredible amount of data to go through,” Smith told the judge when discussing delaying the trial.
Most criminal cases in federal court take a year or more to get to a trial or a negotiated plea, and postponements are normally granted, usually at the request of the defense. May was indicted in June, and if he were to go to trial in October, that would be an unusually fast pace from indictment to trial.
One person familiar with the case said setting an October trial date could be due to Judge Currie, who is known for the speed with which she gets cases through her docket. The defense can always ask for another delay.
May said very little Wednesday during his latest status hearing, appearing to have lost weight while being held in the Edgefield County Detention Center awaiting trial.
“Yes, your honor,” May said when asked if he OK with moving the trial back one month. “I have no objection, your honor.”
May’s attorney, Smith, had formally moved to delay the case from the September trial date.
“Counsel needs additional time to review the voluminous discovery, conduct a thorough investigation, and review the discovery with the defendant,” Smith wrote on Aug. 11. “Additionally, a continuance would allow the parties more time to negotiate a resolution to the case.”
If the trial date doesn’t get moved again, it will take place during early voting for a primary election in the Lexington County district May was elected to represent three times. The primary election to complete May’s term is Oct. 21 with the special general election Dec. 23.
Because District 88 is a heavily Republican district, the primary will be the key race. It also will act as a test of whether the hard-line conservative strategy championed by May and the S.C. House Freedom Caucus he co-founded will still be accepted by the district’s voters, or if voters will opt to have someone who aligns with the House GOP Caucus.
May had supporters in the courtroom Wednesday who gestured to him as he was brought in wearing an orange-and-white jumpsuit and in shackles. He appeared to smile at the supporters, but the smile went away as he noticed members of the news media he often interacted with at the State House.
May, who resigned from of the S.C. House of Representatives this month, has been in jail since June 11 when he was arrested by federal agents after he was indicted by a federal grand jury on 10 counts of distributing child sexual abuse material.
At his first hearing, June 12, Magistrate Judge Shiva Hodges denied bond for May on the grounds he was a flight risk and posed a danger to others, especially to children including his own two young children.
At a second hearing, June 24, Hodges appointed a taxpayer-supported attorney to defend him, federal public defender Smith. Another public defender, Jeremy Thompson, also represents May.
Federal prosecutors on the case are Scott Matthews, Dean Secor, and Austin Berry. While Matthews and Secor are based in South Carolina, Berry is with the Washington-based Child Exploitation & Obscenity Section of the U.S. Justice Department in Washington.
This story was originally published August 20, 2025 at 11:58 AM.