by WILL FOLKS
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We recently reported on a case out of North Charleston, South Carolina in which a defendant pleaded guilty to two counts of reckless homicide following a 2023 car crash that claimed the lives of two people.
The defendant, Darrius Laverne Frasier, received the maximum penalty of ten (10) years apiece on each charge, with S.C. circuit court judge R. Keith Kelly ordering his sentences to run consecutively – or back-to-back – for a total term of imprisonment of twenty (20) years.
Not only did the judge impose the maximum penalty on each charge, he insisted Frasier be held fully accountable for both crimes – as opposed to effectively halving his jail time by letting the two sentences run concurrently.
Kelly’s sentencing of Frasier is something we need to see more of in South Carolina – and he is to be commended for making sure a crime which deprived two citizens of their lives was met with the maximum consequences under the law. FITSNews has spent years arguing that the Palmetto State needed stronger sentencing statutes – and judges who were willing to enforce them.
Unfortunately, Kelly’s sentence will wind up being watered down by South Carolina’s loophole-laden parole laws – which allow inmates to be released from prison after serving just a quarter of their sentences (25%) for most “non-violent” crimes and just a third of their sentences (33.33%) for most violent crimes. There are a handful of felonies designated as “no parole” offenses – but criminals convicted under these statutes can still be released after serving 85% of their sentences.
Even “mandatory minimums” for murder charges are not what they are cracked up to be… as our media outlet has consistently exposed.
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Here’s the sad truth: when you hear a criminal in South Carolina has been sentenced to a specific punishment for committing a certain crime… the reality almost never matches the headline. It’s one of many reasons people don’t trust the Palmetto State’s criminal “justice” system – or the mainstream media outlets which disingenuously regurgitate these specious sentences.
The federal system is different. There is no parole – and individuals sentenced to prison following convictions or guilty pleas in federal court must serve every day of their sentences. FITSNews has repeatedly recommended South Carolina adopt the federal model – arguing only then will we have true “truth in sentencing.”
But there’s another problem continuing to infect South Carolina’s inherently unaccountable “justice” system – one which further weakens the already anemic sentences imposed by our courts.
Last month, the office of S.C. ninth circuit solicitor Scarlett Wilson announced the conviction of Alan Tyler Baker of Charleston, S.C. for assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature and possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime.
Baker, 32, was convicted by a jury of stabbing a female victim five times and striking her about the head with the brass knuckles following an argument she had with another person in February of 2022. He subsequently strangled the victim until she lost consciousness – leaving her with a collapsed lung and a lacerated kidney. Paramedics had to perform needle decompression on the victim while she was en route to the hospital – a measure which prevented trapped air from crushing her heart. She was in the hospital’s intensive care surgical unit for four days receiving treatment for her injuries.
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Despite the severity of this crime, S.C. circuit court judge Thomas J. Rode ignored the maximum penalty of twenty-five (25) years – as well as prosecutors’ request that Baker receive fifteen (15) years “based in part on South Carolina’s terrible record of domestic violence and the savagery of the beating Baker gave the woman.” Instead, Rode issued a sentence of twelve (12) years – which he subsequently suspended to just six (6) years.
As if that weren’t bad enough, Rode weakened the sentence even further by giving Baker credit for more than 1,000 days – nearly three years – that he spent free on bond wearing an ankle monitor.
As a result, this violent criminal – who should have spent the next decade-and-a-half (at least) in prison for nearly beating a woman to death – will be out of jail by the end of the year.
Baker’s case is becoming the rule rather than the exception in South Carolina. Judges in the Palmetto State are increasingly crediting violent defendants with time served while they are on house arrest – even though lawmakers have specifically declined to authorize that “punishment” – and even though prosecutors routinely present evidence in court of these defendants violating the terms of their bonds.
“A judge will order house arrest and then allow so many exceptions that it means nothing,” a prosecutor fed up with the trend told our media outlet this weekend. “Being out living your best life is not the same as sitting in a jail cell. People in jail are EARNING their credit. People on ‘house arrest’ are not. You think the guys in jail think their time is the same as those out living and working at home?”
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FITSNews initially exposed this scam back in 2022 when state lawmakers surreptitiously attempted to codify it into South Carolina law – calling it “a dangerous new tool for lenient judges looking to (further) subvert justice when it comes to their ongoing failure to hold violent offenders accountable.”
“Judges will now dole out far more bonds on the front end (arguing they are ‘monitoring’ these defendants)… and then when the inevitable plea deals are struck with malleable prosecutors they will totally let them off the hook for ‘time served,’” this reporter noted. “The end result? Violent criminals will once again avoid any accountability for their actions… under the color of ‘justice.’”
After our article was published, lawmakers backtracked on their bid to codify this abomination – but they have yet to pass a law prohibiting judges from awarding credit to defendants for time served while under house arrest.
Such a measure is long overdue…
For citizens to have faith in our justice system, they need to know violent crime is being addressed by our courts. That means codifying tougher statutes, putting tougher judges on the bench – and making sure the prison sentences handed down are the sentences these violent criminals actually receive.
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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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