Letters: SC solicitors shouldn’t get free pass

I wish Rep. Todd Rutherford well in his efforts to get Attorney General Alan Wilson’s office to re-open the Zachary Hammond investigation.

I recently represented a sexual assault victim in Richland County. The solicitor’s office’s plea offer included keeping the defendant off of the sexual offender registry, even though he was already on the registry. When the victim asked the attorney general’s office to take over the prosecution, the response was that its policy is “not to review a case unless the Solicitor makes a request in writing for us to consider doing so.”

Although the South Carolina Constitution gives the attorney general the authority to supervise all criminal prosecutions, his policies have in practical effect given solicitors full control with no worry of oversight.