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In the run-up to her bid for a fifth term as South Carolina’s ninth circuit solicitor, Scarlett Wilson has come under fire by Substack blog The Arena, which alleges she has been lenient in her prosecution of repeat-offending criminals. The Arena‘s arguments are echoed by David Osborne, a cop-turned prosecutor who was at one time a rising star in Wilson’s office – but who is now running against her.
Osborne was demoted from prosecuting Charleston’s George Floyd riot criminal cases by Wilson after resurfaced emails showed his criticism of Wilson’s mandatory racial equity training were publicized.
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“I basically just sit there for an hour and stare at a woman who can’t keep a job and tell her ‘inequalities in the criminal justice system, that I’ve seen, are due to wealth disparities not race,’” Osborne wrote to attorney Cameron Blazer.
Wilson demoted and suspended Osborne, who thereafter accepted an offer from S.C. first circuit solicitor David Pascoe to prosecute a 2016 Holly Hill robbery-gone-wrong quadruple murder.
Osborne secured the conviction of the three killers.
While Osborne says he left the office on good terms with Wilson, his decision to run in 2024 comes amid criticisms of Wilson’s handling of the ninth circuit docket – and allegations she should be doing more to put repeat-offender behind bars.
Similar allegations were recently raised by The Arena, a newcomer to the South Carolina media landscape. The Arena describes itself as the Palmetto State’s “only progressive media company,” and is staffed by an assemblage of Democrat political operatives and activists.
According to Arena author Marley Bassett, Wilson is facing “growing scrutiny over the sheer number of dismissed cases, as well as concerns about public safety and her prosecutorial priorities.”
Bassett cited a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request which according to her revealed that “165 defendants, whose charges were dismissed for docket prioritization, went on to commit additional offenses.” These offenses included “severe crimes like attempted murder, armed robbery, and domestic violence,” Bassett alleged.
She specifically cited the cases of Willis Ravenell and Damien Rivers, both of whom had charges dismissed during the Covid-19 pandemic – and who were both charged with additional crimes after the dismissal of charges during Wilson’s “docket prioritization” process.
FITSNews has reported extensively on the damage caused by the South Carolina legal system’s coddling of demonstrably dangerous individuals – with many of the dangerous defendants we’ve reported on having been prosecuted by Wilson’s office. As such, we were deeply interested in The Arena‘s report – and began an effort to determine whether she truly inappropriately dismissed cases which resulted in needless violence.
(Click to view)
We asked Wilson to explain the 165 individuals whose cases were dropped and who went on to be charged with other crimes, as well as to delve into the two cases cited in The Arena‘s reporting.
Wilson first pointed to the charges against Damian Rivers saying her office “dismissed a gun charge because (the) statute changed.”
“Every other solicitor in the state dismissed almost all of the old ‘unlawful carrying’ charges due to the new gun law,” Wilson said in reference to the then recently changed open carry law. “We just created a code for it so we could track it.”
“We were not going to take these cases to trial with the whole world knowing that ‘what was illegal yesterday, is not illegal today,'” Wilson said, adding that Rivers’ other charges “are still pending and subject to prosecution.”
Wilson also disputed allegations that she imprudently dismissed charges against Damien Rivers. While Bassett reported the charges were dropped due to docket prioritization, Wilson provided records to FITSNews indicating that on March 7, 2024 a Charleston police sergeant conveyed to the solicitor’s office that there was a lack of an articulable suspicion that Rivers had committed a crime at the time illicit drugs were discovered on his person.
This “questionable search” jeopardized the state’s ability to prosecute the case and created a situation where a “cost benefit analysis” made it clear that it was “not worth fighting over for .07 grams of crack.”
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Speaking more broadly about dismissals, Wilson challenged The Arena‘s assertion that they sent her office a FOIA request, telling FITSNews “we have not received a FOIA request from The Arena.”
She also disputed the article’s characterization that “docket prioritization is the practice of dismissing cases when prosecutors are too overwhelmed to handle them.'”
Wilson argued the limiting factor is actually the insufficient number of court hours made available to prosecutors to bring cases to trial. Despite this, she noted that her office has “convicted 106 killers since 2018, and 53 since Covid.”
Wilson said her office has a backlog of murder cases “one because our court time has been slashed by Columbia, and two because I refuse to sleaze out deals in violent cases.”
“The violent crime rate has been slashed in half since I took over in 2007,” she said, adding that crime has “dropped in nearly every category.”
Wilson provided FITSNews with data showing her office ranked tenth out of the state’s sixteen judicial circuits for case dismissal rate in the last four years – despite being the last circuit to reopen after COVID and having limitations on scheduling imposed by Covid-wary members of the judicial branch.
“I stand by our approach,” Wilson concluded.
In a conversation with FITSNews, Osborne criticized Wilson’s leadership.
“We are not headed in the right direction,” he said. “I look on the news and I see individuals who are out here committing crimes in other cities on video with no fear of repercussions. And you ask, how does this city get to that point? How does the community get to that point? I feel like we’re headed there. We’re well on the way.”
“I see her say that time and again the judge gave probation or the judge gave time served, and some of that certainly falls on the judge,” Osborne added. “But when you drop a charge one level, two levels and sometimes three levels, and then say, well, the judge gave them time served, or the judge gave them probation… If you felt that strongly about the case and you thought a prison time was appropriate, why did you drop it so many levels?”
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FITSNews pressed Osborne on his campaign contributions from infamous lawyer-legislators Todd Rutherford and Leon Stavrinakis – two Democrats whose potential influence on him would hardly inspire confidence that he would be tough on crime.
Osborne told this news outlet he has only spoken to Rutherford “on the phone one time.” He failed to mention, however, that he held at least one fundraiser with Stavrinakis – who was publicly accused of using his status as a legislator to improperly influence criminal proceedings on the behalf of his clients during last year’s judicial reform public hearings.
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Osborne insisted his integrity isn’t up for sale, but also argued a secret deal brokered by Rutherford which illegally and prematurely freed convicted murderer Jeroid J. Price last year “doesn’t get done unless a solicitor signs off on it.”
Should Osborne win election, we’ll be keeping close tabs on his office – holding him to his promise.
While FITSNews was eager to attempt to validate The Arena‘s allegations of impropriety in the ninth circuit, solicitor Wilson’s production of data indicating her office performs better than the majority of solicitors’ offices on disposition outcomes, indicate that the story is likely far more complex than the Arena indicates.
While The Arena is still new to the South Carolina media landscape – and FITSNews welcome voices from every political perspective to contribute to a more well-rounded public dialogue – it seems The Arena‘s “news” personnel are closer to off-the-books campaign surrogates in this particular instance.
Had they reached out to Wilson prior to publication, they too could have seen the specifics and statistics she freely sent to this news outlet (which spoke with both sides of this story prior to publication).
FITSNews is committed to demanding accountability from South Carolina’s judicial system, and a significant part of that is demanding that prosecutors doggedly pursue serious jail time for individuals who pose a danger to society.
No matter who wins in the ninth circuit on Tuesday, we’ll continue that mission, and we’ll continue to investigate these stories with intellectual honesty, something that cannot be said of every media outlet reporting on these matters.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
(Via: Travis Bell)
Dylan Nolan is the director of special projects at FITSNews. He graduated from the Darla Moore school of business in 2021 with an accounting degree. Got a tip or story idea for Dylan? Email him here. You can also engage him socially @DNolan2000.
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