South Carolina
Senator sues his own legislature over $18,000-a-year pay raise
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A state senator is suing his fellow lawmakers in the South Carolina General Assembly saying they are illegally giving themselves what is effectively an $18,000-a-year raise for all members.
The increase in the “in-district compensation” — money set aside for legislative duties that has few limits on how it can be spent — is set to go from $1,000 a month to $2,500 a month for all 46 senators and 124 House members starting July 1.
But Republican Sen. Wes Climer’s lawsuit said the raise violates the state constitution, which bans the legislature from increasing their per diem during their term. House members would get 18 months of the extra money and senators would get more than three years of payments before facing reelection.
The legal question will likely hinge on whether the extra money is considered part of a per diem for lawmakers and meant to pay their daily expenses or if it is personal income that is taxable.
Lawyers for the House and Senate have not answered the lawsuit.
The raise was proposed by Republican Sen. Shane Martin late in the budget process in a proviso, which is a one-year order on how to spend money. The monthly stipend hadn’t changed in about 30 years, and Martin said the increase was needed to offset inflation.
Climer said Monday he and other opponents of the increase think it should have passed as a stand-alone bill with hearings and a full debate.
Hours after receiving word of the lawsuit, the state Supreme Court ordered both sides to submit briefs before the end of the month in what appears to be an effort to make some kind of decision before the raises start when the fiscal year begins July 1.
Otherwise “we’d have to try to claw back money from legislators. And we don’t want that,” said former Democratic state Sen. Dick Harpootlian, an attorney who filed the lawsuit on Climer’s behalf.
Along with the in-district compensation, lawmakers also get a salary of $10,400 a year that has not changed since 1990. In addition, they get money for meals, mileage to drive to Columbia and hotel rooms while in session. Legislators are considered part-time because South Carolina’s General Assembly meets three days a week from January to May.
The House sent an email to its 124 members giving them a chance to refuse the extra in-district compensation, and 34 declined the money, House Clerk Charles Reid said in an email.
Senators could ask their clerk directly not to pay them, and Climer and two other Republicans have refused the raise, Senate Clerk Jeffrey Gossett said.
Joining Climer in the lawsuit is retired educator and Republican activist Carol Herring. She said the raise going into effect immediately is counterproductive to being a good servant.
Oklahoma
Judge stays execution of man set to receive lethal injection
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — An Oklahoma judge granted a temporary stay of execution Monday to a man whose transfer to death row was expedited by the Trump administration and who was scheduled to receive a lethal injection this week.
John Fitzgerald Hanson, 61, was set to die Thursday for killing a Tulsa woman in 1999.
Hanson’s lawyers have argued that he did not receive a fair clemency hearing last month before the state’s five-member Pardon and Parole Board. They claim board member Sean Malloy was biased because he worked for the Tulsa County District Attorney’s Office when Hanson was being prosecuted.
Malloy has said he never worked on Hanson’s case at the time and was unfamiliar with it before the clemency hearing. Malloy was one of three members who voted 3-2 to deny Hanson a clemency recommendation.
Attorney General Gentner Drummond argued that the district judge doesn’t have the authority to stay the execution and has asked the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals to vacate it.
Hanson was sentenced to death in Tulsa County after he was convicted of carjacking, kidnapping and killing Mary Bowles. Authorities said he and an accomplice kidnapped the woman from a Tulsa shopping mall.
Hanson was transferred to Oklahoma custody in March by federal officials following through on President Donald Trump’s sweeping executive order to more actively support the death penalty.
Hanson had been serving a life sentence in federal prison in Louisiana for several federal convictions, including being a career criminal, that predate his state death sentence.
Both Drummond and his predecessor, John O’Connor, had sought Hanson’s transfer during President Joe Biden’s administration, but the U.S. Bureau of Prisons denied it, saying it was not in the public interest.
Alabama
Sheriff arrested for hiring six uncertified officers
The sheriff of an Alabama county mired in allegations of abuse was arrested on Monday for hiring officers without state training or certification, according to an indictment.
Walker County Sheriff Nick Smith, 41, was indicted on six misdemeanors in state court, accused of hiring one deputy, four armed school resource officers and one jailer who allegedly didn’t have state certification or training, according to court documents made public on Monday.
Both the deputy and some school resource officers were issued department patrol cars, badges and firearms, according to the indictment.
Smith has come under scrutiny in recent years for the death of Tony Mitchell, a 33-year-old mentally ill man who died of sepsis and hypothermia after being held in the local jail in 2023.
At least 14 law enforcement employees for Walker County have pled guilty or been indicted on federal charges related to Mitchell’s death. Smith, who was first elected sheriff in 2018, has been named in a civil lawsuit filed by Mitchell’s family.
At least one of the officers mentioned in Smith’s indictment previously had his certification suspended in Arizona after he admitted to putting a gun to a woman’s head during a traffic stop, according to sworn testimony during a civil service board meeting last month.
The deputy was hired in late June as a provisional officer, which meant he wasn’t allowed to execute arrests or patrol alone until he completed his state training under state law. But the deputy made three arrests and investigated three deaths, according to civil service board testimony from a fellow officer in May.
Waker County Sheriff’s Department Chief Deputy Ralph Williams was also arrested on Monday for allegedly lying to the Alabama Peace Officers’ Standards and Training Commission, saying the officer had been terminated last November.
Senator sues his own legislature over $18,000-a-year pay raise
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A state senator is suing his fellow lawmakers in the South Carolina General Assembly saying they are illegally giving themselves what is effectively an $18,000-a-year raise for all members.
The increase in the “in-district compensation” — money set aside for legislative duties that has few limits on how it can be spent — is set to go from $1,000 a month to $2,500 a month for all 46 senators and 124 House members starting July 1.
But Republican Sen. Wes Climer’s lawsuit said the raise violates the state constitution, which bans the legislature from increasing their per diem during their term. House members would get 18 months of the extra money and senators would get more than three years of payments before facing reelection.
The legal question will likely hinge on whether the extra money is considered part of a per diem for lawmakers and meant to pay their daily expenses or if it is personal income that is taxable.
Lawyers for the House and Senate have not answered the lawsuit.
The raise was proposed by Republican Sen. Shane Martin late in the budget process in a proviso, which is a one-year order on how to spend money. The monthly stipend hadn’t changed in about 30 years, and Martin said the increase was needed to offset inflation.
Climer said Monday he and other opponents of the increase think it should have passed as a stand-alone bill with hearings and a full debate.
Hours after receiving word of the lawsuit, the state Supreme Court ordered both sides to submit briefs before the end of the month in what appears to be an effort to make some kind of decision before the raises start when the fiscal year begins July 1.
Otherwise “we’d have to try to claw back money from legislators. And we don’t want that,” said former Democratic state Sen. Dick Harpootlian, an attorney who filed the lawsuit on Climer’s behalf.
Along with the in-district compensation, lawmakers also get a salary of $10,400 a year that has not changed since 1990. In addition, they get money for meals, mileage to drive to Columbia and hotel rooms while in session. Legislators are considered part-time because South Carolina’s General Assembly meets three days a week from January to May.
The House sent an email to its 124 members giving them a chance to refuse the extra in-district compensation, and 34 declined the money, House Clerk Charles Reid said in an email.
Senators could ask their clerk directly not to pay them, and Climer and two other Republicans have refused the raise, Senate Clerk Jeffrey Gossett said.
Joining Climer in the lawsuit is retired educator and Republican activist Carol Herring. She said the raise going into effect immediately is counterproductive to being a good servant.
Oklahoma
Judge stays execution of man set to receive lethal injection
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — An Oklahoma judge granted a temporary stay of execution Monday to a man whose transfer to death row was expedited by the Trump administration and who was scheduled to receive a lethal injection this week.
John Fitzgerald Hanson, 61, was set to die Thursday for killing a Tulsa woman in 1999.
Hanson’s lawyers have argued that he did not receive a fair clemency hearing last month before the state’s five-member Pardon and Parole Board. They claim board member Sean Malloy was biased because he worked for the Tulsa County District Attorney’s Office when Hanson was being prosecuted.
Malloy has said he never worked on Hanson’s case at the time and was unfamiliar with it before the clemency hearing. Malloy was one of three members who voted 3-2 to deny Hanson a clemency recommendation.
Attorney General Gentner Drummond argued that the district judge doesn’t have the authority to stay the execution and has asked the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals to vacate it.
Hanson was sentenced to death in Tulsa County after he was convicted of carjacking, kidnapping and killing Mary Bowles. Authorities said he and an accomplice kidnapped the woman from a Tulsa shopping mall.
Hanson was transferred to Oklahoma custody in March by federal officials following through on President Donald Trump’s sweeping executive order to more actively support the death penalty.
Hanson had been serving a life sentence in federal prison in Louisiana for several federal convictions, including being a career criminal, that predate his state death sentence.
Both Drummond and his predecessor, John O’Connor, had sought Hanson’s transfer during President Joe Biden’s administration, but the U.S. Bureau of Prisons denied it, saying it was not in the public interest.
Alabama
Sheriff arrested for hiring six uncertified officers
The sheriff of an Alabama county mired in allegations of abuse was arrested on Monday for hiring officers without state training or certification, according to an indictment.
Walker County Sheriff Nick Smith, 41, was indicted on six misdemeanors in state court, accused of hiring one deputy, four armed school resource officers and one jailer who allegedly didn’t have state certification or training, according to court documents made public on Monday.
Both the deputy and some school resource officers were issued department patrol cars, badges and firearms, according to the indictment.
Smith has come under scrutiny in recent years for the death of Tony Mitchell, a 33-year-old mentally ill man who died of sepsis and hypothermia after being held in the local jail in 2023.
At least 14 law enforcement employees for Walker County have pled guilty or been indicted on federal charges related to Mitchell’s death. Smith, who was first elected sheriff in 2018, has been named in a civil lawsuit filed by Mitchell’s family.
At least one of the officers mentioned in Smith’s indictment previously had his certification suspended in Arizona after he admitted to putting a gun to a woman’s head during a traffic stop, according to sworn testimony during a civil service board meeting last month.
The deputy was hired in late June as a provisional officer, which meant he wasn’t allowed to execute arrests or patrol alone until he completed his state training under state law. But the deputy made three arrests and investigated three deaths, according to civil service board testimony from a fellow officer in May.
Waker County Sheriff’s Department Chief Deputy Ralph Williams was also arrested on Monday for allegedly lying to the Alabama Peace Officers’ Standards and Training Commission, saying the officer had been terminated last November.
