Hammond family challenge of solicitor rejected by SC Supreme Court

The state Supreme Court denied a request by the family of a teenager who was shot and

killed by a Seneca police officer to hear arguments that the solicitor on the case is

compromised by a conflict of interest.

The court issued an order stating that “a citizen lacks standing to contest the decision

by the prosecuting authority whether to prosecute another when the citizen is neither

prosecuted nor threatened with prosecution.”

Eric Bland, an attorney for the family of 19-year-old Zachary Hammond, had asked the high

court to turn over the decision on whether the officer who shot Hammond should be

prosecuted to the state attorney general.

“The family is very disappointed that the Supreme Court did not agree to take on this most

important matter and seemed to have punted on it,” Bland said.

The family had hoped the court would set a precedent that would take decisions about

possible criminal actions of law enforcement officers out of the hands of prosecutors who

work with those agencies on a routine basis.

Hammond was shot and killed in the parking lot of a Hardee’s restaurant in July by Seneca

Police Lt. Mark Tiller during an attempted marijuana sting targeting a passenger in

Hammond’s car.

Tiller fired two shots through the open driver’s side window because he thought Hammond

was going to run over him, according to Seneca Police Chief John Covington.

An independent autopsy done for Hammond’s family found that the bullets entered from his

side, back to front, which their attorney argues indicates he couldn’t have been in the

path of the car if it was moving.

A dashboard camera in Tiller’s vehicle captured the incident, but it has been in SLED’s

hands since that night and has been turned over to 10th Circuit Solicitor Chrissy Adams.

In their order denying the petition by Hammond's parents, the five Supreme Court justices

unanimously said the family lacked legal standing to challenge the actions of Adams and

South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson.

Intervention by the court in any decisions made by Adams or Wilson would violate the

separation of powers clause, the justices ruled.

Citing a U.S. Supreme Court notation in another case, the justices said a prosecutor

exercises "considerable discretion" in determining who should be targets of an

investigation, which methods of investigation should be used, who should be charged, who

should be witnesses and whether anyone should be granted immunity.

Those decisions are all made outside the court's supervision, the justices said, citing

the U.S. Supreme Court notation.

Wilson said in a court filing the Hammonds' petition "would not only represent an

intrusion by the judicial branch into a criminal investigation, but would constitute an

interference with the prosecutorial authority of the circuit solicitor, as well as that of

the attorney general," who is the state's chief prosecuting officer.

The Hammonds had sued Tiller, Covington and the city of Seneca Police Department in

federal court alleging Tiller used excessive force in killing the teenager and Seneca

police were negligent in hiring, training and supervising the department's officers. The

suit seeks unspecified damages.

In a court filing, Covington and the city denied the allegations.

This story was originally published October 15, 2015 at 7:27 PM with the headline "Hammond family challenge of solicitor rejected by SC Supreme Court."