The vacant seat of 11th Circuit Court Judge Marc Westbrook, who
died Wednesday in a car crash, likely won’t be filled by the S.C.
Legislature until next spring, a state lawyer said Thursday.
Meanwhile, judges statewide have volunteered to take over
Westbrook’s caseload, said South Carolina Supreme Court Chief
Justice Jean Toal.
Jane Shuler, an attorney for the state Judicial Merit Selection
Commission, said her office plans to postpone the legislative
election for Westbrook, whose six-year term expires June 30, from
February until May.
“We did not think it was appropriate (to hold the February
election),” she said. “It’s just too close to the screening
schedule.”
Under the fall screening schedule, the deadline for applying for
Westbrook’s seat would have been Oct. 5. Public screening hearings
for his seat would have been held in December.
With a May election, public hearings won’t be held until April,
said Shuler, noting, “That will give people some time to decide
about what they want to do.”
Westbrook, 58, of West Columbia, who had been a circuit court
judge for Lexington, McCormick, Saluda and Edgefield counties since
1994, died Wednesday when a car in which he was a passenger collided
with a tractor trailer in Edgefield County.
Westbrook’s law clerk, James Randall Davis Jr., 27, of Lexington,
the car’s driver, also died.
Toal said Thursday a number of circuit court judges, including
Ernest Kinard of Columbia, John Few of Greenville, John Hayes of
York and J. Michael Baxley of Hartsville, have offered either to
give up their vacation time or chamber weeks, which are non-court
weeks, to handle Westbrook’s cases.
“His docket will move forward — as he would have hoped — in an
orderly way,” Toal said, adding she plans to issue assignment orders
“within the next few days.”
Toal said she will appoint Lexington County Master-in-Equity
Clyde Davis as a special circuit court judge to handle Westbrook’s
non-jury civil and post conviction relief cases.
She also said William Keesley, Lexington County’s other resident
circuit court judge with Westbrook, has “just been marvelous” in
coordinating efforts.
Toal said she will have to develop a “more long-term plan” for
handling Westbrook’s cases.
The Lexington County Courthouse will remain closed for most
business until Monday, though a “skeletal staff” will remain to
receive court filings, Toal said. Visitation for Westbrook will be
Saturday at the courthouse; his funeral is Sunday at Springdale
Baptist Church.
In a prepared statement, Lexington County Chief Magistrate Gary
Reinhart said all magistrate courts in the county would be closed
through today, except for bond court.
Toal said clerks of court and other local staff in McCormick,
Saluda and Edgefield counties were asked to decide whether to close
their respective courthouses for the remainder of the week.
The McCormick County Courthouse was expected to be closed today,
while the other two likely would remain open, clerks of court in
those counties said Thursday.
Reach Brundrett at (803) 771-8484 or rbrundrett@thestate.com.
