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by WILL FOLKS
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One of South Carolina’s most competitive State House races is highlighting problems with the pernicious influence of lawyer-legislators within the Palmetto State’s court system.
Over the past half-decade, FITSNews has extensively exposed the corrosive impact of state representatives and senators who get to pick the judges they appear before – arguing for a system that is more balanced in terms of incorporating executive and popular input. Sadly, lawmakers have balked at such proposals… opting to preserve their improper influence over the judicial branch of government.
Meanwhile efforts to break the lawyer-legislator stranglehold have… veered off course.
Lawyers make up less than one quarter of one percent of South Carolina’s working population, but they constitute more than 30% of the S.C. General Assembly. They also control the state’s Judicial Merit Selection Commission (JMSC) – the powerful body that screens and selects judges prior to lawmakers voting on those selections.
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South Carolina is one of only two states in the nation in which lawmakers elect judges – an inherently incestuous system that has eroded judicial independence as well as public safety.
In the race for S.C. House District 26 (.pdf) in York County, this battle has come to the forefront after the local solicitor – judicial reformer Kevin Brackett – responded to a constituent via email about an incumbent lawyer-legislator.
According to emails obtained by FITSNews, Brackett was contacted by a York County resident about state representative David Martin – who was accused in a recent campaign mail piece of representing “dangerous criminals.”
“His firm has represented some defendants who were charged with very serious crimes,” Brackett wrote to the constituent, recalling one case in particular in which the lawmaker “came to court on behalf of his client.”
Asked to elaborate on the case, Brackett referenced a defendant charged by his office with “sexually abusing two young girls.”
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“He impregnated one of them when she was fourteen and DNA paternity tests revealed (he) was the father,” Brackett wrote. “He was convicted at trial for this act and later, Mr. Martin came to court for a hearing in which they accused my office of misconduct and attempted to have the verdict overturned and me removed from the case and it assigned to another solicitor’s office. The court denied the motions and let the convictions stand and allowed my office to continue prosecuting the case.”
The defendant in that case was sentenced to forty (40) years in prison earlier this year, according to Brackett.
“His history of abusing these young girls was one of the worst I have seen in my 35 years as a prosecutor and his crime was compounded by the fact that he intimidated the victims into silence by telling them no one would believe them over his word because he was a police officer,” Brackett said. “He was truly a monster. He is 54 years old now and I take some comfort in the fact that the sentence will probably ensure he dies in prison.”
Martin’s opponent in the June 9, 2026 GOP primary election is Fort Mill pastor and conservative activist Dr. Elizabeth Enns. According to Enns, Martin’s appearance in court was inappropriate – and she told us she hoped District 26 residents would hold him accountable with their votes.
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“I am shocked and, quite frankly, appalled, that a sitting member of the South Carolina legislature would attempt to use his position to get anyone out of prison, much less a convicted child sex offender,” Enns said. “I consider this a violation of the trust placed in David Martin by the good people of Fort Mill.”
“This criminal was already convicted of an absolutely heinous offense with indisputable DNA evidence,” Enns continued. “Why would the people’s representative be working against our legal system to put a criminal back on the street? (That) should never happen.”
Martin bristled at those allegations.
“I’ve never handled a single criminal case in my life,” he told us. “I wouldn’t even know what to do if I got pulled over by the police tomorrow.”
Martin said his former law partner was in court accusing the solicitor’s office – “and frankly Kevin” – of misusing the grand jury process, which they viewed as “inappropriate.” Given the seriousness of the allegations against the solicitor, Martin told us he believed it was important for him to be in court.
“I just swung by to see what happened,” Martin said. “I did not make an appearance on behalf of anymore.”
Like many incumbents, Martin’s campaign is heavily backed by the trial lawyer lobby – which has poured at least $60,000 into his reelection bid, according to a review of campaign finance reports filed with the S.C. State Ethics Commission (SCSEC).
Count on FITSNews to keep tabs on this race… and the broader battle to fix the Palmetto State’s badly broken system of “justice.”
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.
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