Hawkins defends judicial candidate

Under fire for championing a judicial candidate praised by Spartanburg County's top Democrat as a favorite of criminal defense lawyers, Republican Sen. John Hawkins had a simple message for GOP activists Thursday night.

"It wasn't true," the veteran lawmaker said.

Hawkins told more than 40 people attending the Greater Spartanburg Republican Women's monthly dinner meeting at Billy D's Grill on South Pine Street that Master-in-Equity Roger L. Couch is tough on crime -- no matter what the Democrats' chairman says.

"Roger Couch has a spine that is strong; Roger Couch is impartial and fair," Hawkins declared.

But businessman Lee Bright, who is challenging Hawkins for renomination in a GOP primary scheduled for June 9, said Democratic Chairman Albert V. Smith's remarks about Couch are disturbing.

Bright said it bothers him that Hawkins and Smith are both supporting Couch for the 7th judicial circuit judgeship vacated by Don Beatty last year -- especially in light of remarks Smith, a criminal defense attorney, made to the Herald-Journal this week.

Smith said he supports Couch because of the master-in-equity's background as a former criminal defense attorney and opponent Principal Deputy Solicitor Barry Barnette's history as a prosecutor who has worked closely with law enforcement.

The Democratic Party chairman said Couch, who he said is strongly supported by criminal defense attorneys, would be more likely than

Barnette to issue rulings favorable to defendants in such matters as suppression of evidence and the setting of bonds.

"That frightens me," Bright said. "Law enforcement doesn't need its hands tied."

Bright called for "someone with more of a prosecutor's background."

Longtime GOP volunteer Walter McSherry, a Bright supporter, also needled Hawkins for supporting Couch. McSherry said Smith had described Couch as "easier on the criminals."

Hawkins was ready for the criticism. Brandishing a copy of a report by the Legislature's Judicial Merit Selection Commission, he quoted the report's finding that Couch "has a reputation as a fair and impartial judge."

Hawkins, an attorney who sometimes defends accused criminals himself, further noted that the report was signed by Spartanburg Republican Rep. Doug Smith, a member of the commission and a Barnette supporter.

As a member of Spartanburg County School District 6's school board for several years, Hawkins said, Couch consistently voted to expel unruly students. As master-in-equity, he said, Couch has held the line against allowing drug dealers to retrieve seized funds.

Hawkins said Albert Smith "said something he shouldn't have said. … It wasn't true."

The Legislature is expected to choose between Couch and Barnette on Feb. 4.

Couch actually has done little criminal defense work over the course of his nearly 30-year legal career.

The master-in-equity told the Judicial Merit Selection Commission last year that, in the two decades between his admission to the South Carolina Bar in 1975 and his election to his current job, he had a "general practice of law."

As law partners came and went, Couch wrote, he "worked primarily in real estate transactions, probate practice, Family Court, personal injury and some worker's compensation."

Couch conceded that most of his trial practice involved civil matters, but he assured the commission that he has experience in criminal law.

"In the five years immediately preceding my taking the position of master-in-equity, I represented clients who were involved in several criminal matters," he wrote. "Most of those cases were resolved by plea negotiations or pre-trial intervention.

"... I have tried at least three criminal cases to a jury verdict in General Sessions Court and many in Magistrate Court."

Surrogates

Because the judgeship vacated by Beatty is located in the judicial circuit comprising Spartanburg and Cherokee counties, those counties' legislative delegations are expected to have more influence over the outcome of the race than any others. Lawmakers traditionally give great weight to the preferences of their colleagues in counties where open judgeships are based.

Couch has the support of Democratic Sen. Glenn Reese and Democratic Rep. E. DeWitt McCraw, plus Republican Sens. Hawkins, Jim Ritchie and Harvey S. Peeler Jr. and Republican Reps. Scott Talley and Phil Sinclair.

Barnette is supported by Republican Reps. Doug Smith, Bob Walker, Lanny Littlejohn, Joe Mahaffey and Ralph Davenport, plus Democratic Reps. Olin R. Phillips and Mike Anthony.

Democratic Rep. Brenda Lee is neutral.

Barnette and Couch also have had the support of a flood of surrogates who have appeared in Columbia to try to influence the vote.

Among those in Couch's corner are Spartanburg attorneys John B. White Jr., Ben C. Harrison and Danny R. Smith, partners in the law firm of Harrison White Smith Hayes & Coggins. Barnette has the support of Solicitor Trey Gowdy and his assistant prosecutors. Other solicitors from around the state, including Greenville-based Bob Ariail and Union-based Tommy Pope, have appeared in support of Barnette.

Tom Langhorne can be reached at 562-7221 or tom.langhorne@shj.com.

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GERRY PATE
Lee Bright says judicial candidate Roger L. Couch will tie the hands of law enforcement.

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