Poor Judgement
In our last RFF installment, we highlighted one judge that we felt was, well ... not that sharp. Specifically, let's review three decision from one Judge James Williams (aka Hog Farmer):
Decision One
Independent-Mail - Judge Poised To Sign Dismissal Order For Lawsuit Involving Anderson County
http://www.independentmail.com/news/2009/mar/20/judge-poised-sign-dismissal-order-lawsuit-involvin/
This action, or more to the point, inaction, is most relevant to your average Andersonian. Judge Williams, demonstrating, in this readers opinion, a clear lack of understanding about the intricate nature of Home Rule, chose to simply "pass the buck" by throwing the case out of court and calling it "patently absurd."
I hope you remember your quote judge, as you'll be hit over the head by that phrase over and over again.
I will suggest again that Judge Williams reviews "Local Governments and Home Rule in South Carolina - A Citizens Guide" as published by the Strom Thurmond Institute at Clemson University. While there is no guarantee you will get a clue, there is hope that you will within those pages, sir.
Decision Two
MSNBC - John Ludwig Pleads Guilty, Gets No Jail Time
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33965164/ns/local_news-greenville_sc/
Yes folks, Mr. "Patently Absurd" himself presided over this case. Irony: Billy Wilkins (yes, the same Billy Wilkins that has run amok here in Anderson with these investigations and legal wranglings) represented Ludwig before Judge "Patently Absurd." In fact, here is a quote from the Judge (from the aforementioned article):
""I'm not moved particularly or influenced by the amount of money Mr. Ludwig may have made during his lifetime. I am moved and influenced by what he's done with it. You would expect a man to take care of his family, but it's evident to me that he's very unselfish in sharing what he has accomplished with others and that fact has probably influences me more than anything else in the sentence I'm about to impose," he said."
So it's not just that he had money Judge Williams? He had money and he chose to spend it in a way in which you deemed it to be of greater benefit to the community? So money buys freedom? Is that what we are to take away from this, Judge Williams? I can drive my Maserati 185, and so long as I'm a generous person (including free home remodeling with my 100k sports car), I get a free pass?
Pathetic.
Oh wait ... we're not done yet ...
Decision Three
WYFF4 - Ludwig Judge Faces Scrutiny After Unrelated Ruling
http://www.wyff4.com/news/21681025/detail.html
From the WYFF4 Article:
"Williams was also working at the Pickens County courthouse. On Thursday, he took a plea from George Westmoreland who faces two counts of committing a lewd act on a minor in 2006.
Westmoreland's arrest warrants said that on two separate occasions, between July and August 2006, he touched a 9-year-old boy to gain sexual arousal. He was also charged with assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature (ABHAN) for allegedly touching a 16-year-old boy to gain sexual familiarity."
So what did Judge "Patently Absurd" Williams do?
"Court documents showed that on Thursday, Westmoreland entered an Alford Plea in which he maintained his innocence but acknowledged that a jury would likely convict him if the evidence were brought to trial.
As part of the negotiated plea, the 13th Circuit Solicitor's Office dismissed the ABHAN charge and one of the lewd act charges. Instead of facing the second lewd act charge, Westmoreland pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor charge of ABHAN.
Williams sentenced Westmoreland to one year of home incarceration followed by four years probation. As a condition of his probation, Westmoreland will not have to register as a sex offender. Also, while under home incarceration, he is allowed to travel for business while wearing a GPS monitor."
I wish that last paragraph in bold was a clerical error. Sadly it is not. My question to "Patently Absurd" is this: Why would you let someone who is clearly a sex offender get off with a reduced sentence and somehow not force the individual to register as a sex offender? Are you somehow sympathetic to the convicted offender? Or are you just indifferent to crimes such as this?
Isn't it time for you to retire the robes and return to hog farming full-time?
- SSHM
The one question I would have is when the case Williams ruled on in Anderson, where he made the "patently absurd" statement, it's on appeal.......now when it goes before a judge again, will he be the presiding judge, or will someone else hear the appeal? This guy is retired, but apparently pulled off the bench (or hog farm) occasionally.
The Ludwig case and not giving a sexual pervert a serious sentence, IMO support the fact that this judge is not competent to rule on guilt/innocence/right/wrong. While Ludwig I'm sure did not get in his car and say "gee, let me go find a house to plow through and kill someone", he clearly acted with reckless disregard, and his past history of speeding violations, as well as an existing case with his wife, who he is going through a divorce with for breaking and entering, etc. should have factored into the equation, if you're going to take a look at the fact this man had alot of $$$ and he used it for the good of others. He clearly also had an issue with speeding, and apparently is a controlling individual. No reasonable, objective person, I believe can make a case for why Ludwig should not serve some hard time for killing an innoccent man, sitting in the comfort of his home, with the belief he was safe. It's beyond comprehension to me. All the rhetoric about Arail could not get the family to work directly with him (but through their attorney) is no excuse for a sentence that included no incarceration. Nor should the $3 million settlement the family received, which if you read the press on that, essentially all of it came out of insurance policies held by Mr. Ludwig, which begs another question, how many people do you know that need to be insured that heavily for anything they might do that might be incredibly stoopid.
I just wonder what percentage of the earnings Ludwig gave away? God asks for 10% and there is pleanty of 10% givers in Prison. I really want to know, do I need to up my % ?
From an understanding of how the Supreme court reviews cases, I BELIEVE that this case will actually be presented before the person who helped WRITE the home Rule provisions. It will NOT be revisited by Judge Hogett-Williams. First, he should have been recused ( who was prejudiced from his seating on the bench during that trial, with his closing moments about Anderson "getting your money back" and "I'm SURE this will be overturned on appeal" comments), and secondly, he had a direct conflict of interest in this case with his former holding of a position in a Supervisor-form of governing in Williamsburg.
Needless to say, the public views of a Judge who frees a Manslaughter perpretrator based on $$$$, a Judge who allows a Pedophile to run free with a wrist slap, and a Judge who clearly has no understanding of how Government works ( and no, not by the changing hands of envelopes) in making a easily-overturned case shows he needs to STAY retired.
Here is the Judge's Bio.
http://www.judicial.state.sc.us/circuitCourt/displaycirjudge.cfm?judgeid=2114
Interesting that we seemed to have another confirmed bachelor here and a HOG supporter to boot. Also proof anybody can go to USC law school. How do you make the leap from dairy science major to studying law after raising hogs? Believe I'll apply for law school and become a judge. I have plenty of qualifications. Plus I need a degree so I can have two like Rusty Burns.
We have already concluded that when you are a cindi-clone all it takes to be an "engineer" is the desire to call yourself one....so why cant you just call yourself a "lawyer"..???
Those "paper Engineers" seem to run amok here.
One of our forum members actually said they got their "engineering degree" from Greenville Tech ( even though they don't offer "Degree'd" programs, merely certificates). Another well-known local works FOR an engineeering firm, but has yet to be acknowleged AS one. Yet another local proclaimed his "doctorate" from an on-line university. Those on-line degree program from the University of Ganja, eh?
Its no different than when the driver-heads called one of their prominent and very visible members a "bank president"... for several years she was always referred to as a "bank president" in an effort to give cindi credibility.... then suddenly she was no longer being touted as a "bank president" and wasnt visible any more...
Might have had something to do with the fact that for some reason... the actual president of the bank she worked at didnt particularly like her being referred to as "The president"...and took offense to the fact that elected officials and others were allowing this charade to go on...
It is funny that the radicals that put cindi into office will dismiss the advice and testimony of professionals...(remember how they attacked the credentials and ethics and integrity of CPA's from Elliot Davis and Kline, Brandt and Kochenhour? See how they crucify the Solicitors office, both past and present? Recall how cindi lied about engineers that disagreed with her, and fabricated people to refute their testimony?)
.....yet the cindi clones feel the need nontheless to be validated by professionals.
So, since they cant actually get real professionals to put their own credentials on the line (see bob daniels refusal to certify his work as a CPA) they create "fake" professionals who then confirm how correct they are.
Like eddie moore and his "engineers" that supposedly said that he was correct and that the community center could have been built for half the price....then he failed to actually provide any substantiating proof...
