Meg Kinnard

September 21, 2009 | Daily Report Online

COLUMBIA, S.C. AP - Rep. Joe Wilson may have shouted his way into the toughest election fight of his life.Just ask former Sen. George Allen of Virginia, a conservative darling who suffered a surprise defeat in 2006 after calling an Indian-American campaign worker "macaca" - an ethnic slur in some countries.

By BEN EVANS and MEG KINNARD

5 minute read

May 05, 2009 | Daily Report Online

COLUMBIA, S.C. AP - Bruce Windsor lived the life of a respectable family man - father of four, deacon in his South Carolina church, youth soccer coach, a volunteer who helped build orphanages in Brazil. Then four days after his 43rd birthday, authorities say, he donned a mask, wig and sunglasses and tried to rob a bank at gunpoint.

By MEG KINNARD

6 minute read

October 07, 2006 | Law.com

A 12-year-old boy's confession that he killed his grandparents and set their house on fire was influenced by his age and an antidepressant, an attorney told the South Carolina Supreme Court. Christopher Pittman, now 17, did not understand the severity of his confession five years ago, his attorney argued in an appeal for a new trial. Zoloft manufacturer Pfizer Inc. said in a statement after the verdict last year that Zoloft "didn't cause his problems, nor did the medication drive him to commit murder."

By Meg Kinnard

2 minute read

July 28, 2010 | Law.com

A judge on Tuesday ordered a new trial for a South Carolina man who at the age of 12 shot his grandparents to death and set their home on fire and later blamed his actions on his use of the antidepressant Zoloft. The judge said Christopher Pittman's defense team made several errors, including not pursuing a plea deal. Now 21, Pittman testified at a court hearing last year that his lead attorneys never told him that South Carolina jurors could both blame the drug and find him guilty of murder.

By Meg Kinnard

3 minute read

August 16, 2010 | The Legal Intelligencer

Longshot U.S. Senate candidate Alvin Greene has been indicted on a felony charge of showing pornography to a South Carolina college student.

By Meg Kinnard

1 minute read

October 29, 2009 | Law.com

Roland Corning, a South Carolina deputy assistant attorney general who said he was on his lunch break when an officer found him in a cemetery with a stripper in his SUV, has been fired, his boss said Wednesday. A police officer found a Viagra pill and several sex toys in the SUV, items Corning said he always kept with him, "just in case," according to a police report. Such a trip to the cemetery "would not be appropriate, at any time, for an assistant attorney general," according to Attorney General Henry McMaster.

By Meg Kinnard

2 minute read

February 07, 2008 | The Legal Intelligencer

Jailhouse lawyer Michael Ray has accomplished something rarely achieved by even the most experienced of attorneys on the outside: The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear arguments in a case for one of his fellow inmates.

By Meg Kinnard The Associated Press

4 minute read

February 05, 2010 | Law.com

A South Carolina man was distraught over drawn-out divorce proceedings and a recent order to sell a home he co-owned with his ex-wife when he killed the woman's attorney and then himself, authorities said Thursday. Jerry Dean Crenshaw shot J. Redmond Coyle Wednesday in a parking lot behind Coyle's Pickens, S.C., office, the local police chief said. Crenshaw's wife had hired Coyle after the pair filed for divorce, according to court filings.

By Meg Kinnard

3 minute read

February 03, 2008 | The Legal Intelligencer

While other prisoners are lifting weights or playing basketball, "jailhouse lawyer" Michael Ray is working 40 hours a week, his head buried in legal texts and journals as he helps fellow inmates file appeals.

By By MEG KINNARD

5 minute read