Journal of the House of Representatives
of the Second Session of the 110th General Assembly
of the State of South Carolina
being the Regular Session Beginning Tuesday, January 11, 1994
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Printed Page 1610, Feb. 10
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Printed Page 1620 . . . . . Thursday, February 10,
1994
Q. That's my point. This agreement says that the things that we're complaining
or investigating at this point would have been taken care of at the time that
you did the closing? Is that not correct?
A. That it would have been taken care of?
Q. Yes, sir.
A. Well --
Q. My reading of paragraph 9 indicates that.
A. Well, no, sir. You see, it's subject -- specifically subject to the approval
of the Public Service Commission wherever that is.
Q. No, I'm just saying Paragraph 9, settlement has or at closing will have all
necessary permits and licenses and easements.
A. Well, that --
Q. Does that make reference to the Public Service Commission approval as
well?
A. No. That had to do with the easements, DHEC licenses and all those kind of
thing.
REPRESENTATIVE BEATTY: Okay. I'm finished.
THE CHAIRMAN: All right. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Ross.
SENATOR RUSSELL: May I ask one question?
THE CHAIRMAN: Yes, I'm sorry. Senator Russell.
EXAMINATION BY SENATOR RUSSELL:
Q. I'm not going to delay anybody on this. Lowell, you earlier in your
original career had the opportunity to clerk for one of the South Carolina
legend -- judicial legend, Judge --
A. Martin.
Q. -- Martin, correct?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. And you -- in that capacity you had the opportunity to be in court as I did
because I clerked for Judge Hemphill and see Judge Martin in action.
A. I did many times.
Q. Would you fashion your judicial temperament along that of Judge Martin?
A. No.
Q. That's enough. That's all you need to say.
A. More like Justice Littlejohn.
Q. That's all you need to say.
THE CHAIRMAN: Or Justice Russell, how about that?
A. Or Justice Russell, yes.
THE CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much. All right. That concludes the testimony on
Lowell Ross. The next seat is the Family Court of the
Printed Page 1621 . . . . . Thursday, February 10,
1994
Sixth Judicial Circuit, Seat 2, we have one candidate, Walter B. Brown, Jr.
Mr. Brown, please raise your right hand.
WALTER B. BROWN, JR., having been duly sworn, testified as follows:
THE CHAIRMAN: Mr. Brown, have you had a chance to review the Personal Data
Questionnaire Summary that we provided?
MR. BROWN: Yes, I have.
THE CHAIRMAN: Is it correct?
MR. BROWN: Yes, sir, it is.
THE CHAIRMAN: Any clarifications or changes need to be made?
MR. BROWN: None that I'm aware of.
THE CHAIRMAN: Is there any objection to our at this time making the summary a
part of the record of your sworn testimony?
MR. BROWN: No objection.
THE CHAIRMAN: That being the case, it shall be done at this point.
PERSONAL DATA QUESTIONNAIRE SUMMARY
1. Walter B. Brown, Jr.
Home Address: Business Address:
423 Bratton Street P. O. Box 41
Winnsboro, SC 29180 120 North Vanderhorst Street
Winnsboro, SC 29180
2. He was born in Columbia, South Carolina on April 10, 1947. He is
presently 46 years old.
4. He was married to Harvey Newson Walker on April 12, 1975. He has two
children: Frances Walker, age 15, and Katherine Anne, age 12.
5. Military Service: South Carolina Army National Guard; 1969-1975; Rank E-5;
***-**-****; Retired; Honorable Discharge 1975
6. He attended the University of South Carolina, 1965-1969, Bachelor of
Science Degree; and the University of South Carolina School of Law, 1970-
1973; J.D.
8. Legal/Judicial education during the past five years:
He has attended CLE seminars at the USC Law School.
Printed Page 1622 . . . . . Thursday, February 10,
1994
12. Legal experience since graduation from law school:
General Practice of Law, 1974-1993
He has practiced in Winnsboro, 1974-1993. The practice consists of criminal
(magistrate and General Sessions), civil, social security, real estate, bank
law and town attorney.
13. Rating in Martindale-Hubbell:A.V.
14. Frequency of appearances in court:
Federal - only once in the last five years
State - Family Court each month; General Sessions Court 4-5 times
a year; Magistrates' Court monthly
Other - Social Security Administration hearings 5-6 times a year
15. Percentage of litigation:
Civil - 5%
Criminal - 15%
Domestic - 30%
16. Percentage of cases in trial courts:
Jury - 95%
Non-jury - 5%
Sole Counsel
17. Five (5) of the most significant litigated matters in either trial or
appellate court:
(a) State v. Max Spencer Peake. General Sessions - Death penalty
case
(b) Other numerous felony trials in the last 20 years
20. Judicial Office:
City Recorder for the Town of Winnsboro, 1976-1980, appointed by Town
Council. At the time, jurisdiction was limited to offenses inside the town
limits, and punishment was $100 or 30 days.
23. Employment As a Judge Other Than Elected Judicial Office:
City Recorder, Town of Winnsboro, 1976-1980, Town Council
Printed Page 1623 . . . . . Thursday, February 10,
1994
25. Occupation, business or profession other than the practice of law:
Lobbyist for South Carolina Association of Motion Picture Theatre Owners,
1983-1993; Lobbyist for South Carolina Trial Lawyers Association, 1985-1986
32. Sued: Sued by Beverly and Kim Hooper in the Court of Common Pleas for
Fairfield County. The Plaintiff dismissed the action. He was sued in
Federal Court by a former criminal client. It is dismissed by the Court
for lack of merit. This was an attempt at PCR through Federal Court.
36. Lobbyist or Lobbyist Principal:
1983-1993, South Carolina Association of Motion Picture Theatre Owners
1985-1986, South Carolina Association of Trial Lawyers
45. Bar Associations and Professional Organizations:
Fairfield County Bar; South Carolina Bar Association; American Bar
Association
46. Civic, charitable, educational, social and fraternal organizations:
Fairfield County Chamber of Commerce; The Palmetto Club of Columbia;
Fairfield Country Club (Director)
47. He has practiced law primarily in the Sixth Judicial Circuit for 19
years. He has had an active domestic practice in addition to his other
areas of practice. He thinks he has a compassionate understanding of
what parties are going through who appear in Family Court. He has the
temperament needed to be reasonable and firm to all parties and their
attorneys.
Having been married for 18 years and with two teen-age daughters, he
thinks that his experience gives him an insight into the problems that
children and families face in our modern society.
He has enjoyed his four years of service as City Recorder for the Town of
Winnsboro and thinks he would be an excellent judge.
Printed Page 1624 . . . . . Thursday, February 10,
1994
48. Five (5) letters of recommendation:
(a) William A. Harwell, President
Bank of Ridgeway
P. O. Box 8, Palmer Street, Ridgeway, SC 29130
337-2251
(b) Kenneth G. Goode, Esquire
P. O. Box 488, Winnsboro, SC 29180
635-5912
(c) Gedney M. Howe, III, Esquire
P. O. Box 1034, Charleston, SC 29402
722-8048
(d) John A. Martin, Esquire
P. O. Box 298, Winnsboro, SC 29180
635-4912
(e) Dr. Roger A. Gaddy
511 W. Moultrie Street, Winnsboro, SC 29180
635-6487
BAR RESOLUTION: Fairfield County
PERSONAL DATA QUESTIONNAIRE - ADDENDUM
2. Positions on the Bench:
Town of Winnsboro; City Recorder; 2/1976 to July/1980
The Judicial Standards Commission has no record of reprimands against you. I
understand you previously served as the City Recorder in the town of
Winnsboro.
MR. BROWN: Yes, sir, I did.
THE CHAIRMAN: The records of the appropriate law enforcement agencies:Fairfield
County Sheriff's Department, Winnsboro City Police Department, SLED and FBI
records are all negative. The Judgement Rolls of Fairfield County are negative.
The Federal court records show no judgements or criminal actions against you.
There apparently was a civil case in which you and other Fairfield County
officials were named as defendants. This case was a prisoner's civil rights
action which was dismissed in 1985; is that correct?
MR. BROWN: That's correct, yes.
THE CHAIRMAN: There are no complainants or there are no statements that we've
received that complained against you and no witnesses present to testify against
you.
Printed Page 1625 . . . . . Thursday, February 10,
1994
At this time, I'll turn you over to Ms. McNamee for questioning. I would say
that you have the right to a brief opening statement which I would encourage you
to waive if you would being the only candidate in the race.
MR. BROWN: I'll be more than happy to waive that.
THE CHAIRMAN: Thank you so much, Mr. Brown. Ms. McNamee.
MR. BROWN - EXAMINATION BY MS. MCNAMEE:
Q. Mr. Brown, I would like to start by asking you about judicial
temperament which has been described as having -- has the qualities of patience,
open-mindedness, courteous, tact, firmness, understanding, compassion and
humility. Which of those do you think is most important to a Family Court judge
to have and why?
A. Well, I think for one thing you have to be compassionate. You have to
understand those two people -- in most cases those two people or those parents,
if it's not a divorce matter, are there for their day in court and they expect
to have the opportunity to have their side of any matter heard and, of course,
you've got to be understanding of that and that's going to require a good bit of
patience as well as understanding of their feelings about being in court that
day because that is their one opportunity to be there.
Q. Which of these qualities is your strongest?
A. I feel like I'm a very patient person and understanding person. I know after
practicing law for some 20 years, you have to be able to listen to both sides of
any situation, so I feel that those three would probably be the characteristics
that I would bring into this job to be the understanding and patience and
willingness to listen to both sides.
Q. Is there any weak point you'd like to -- one point that you need to work on?
I mean --
A. You know, I hadn't been a judge since I was a lttle City Recorder in the town
of Winnsboro back in the early eighties or late seventies and, you know, I think
it's going to certainly take a good bit of time before I can, I think, rule in
cases as well as, say, somebody like Judge Barrineau who served our circuit so
well for the last 14 years or any of the other judges we have presently sitting
on the Family Court bench. But I think that the thing is that you have to learn
in a hurry that you've got to rule one way or the other and somebody is going to
be displeased with whatever you do and that's going to always be the case in
Family Court and in most cases, you know, there are no winners in Family Court
anyway. At least that's been my experiences in 20 years.
Printed Page 1626 . . . . . Thursday, February 10,
1994
Q. Talking about judges, what judges have been influential to you in your career
and is there any one model that you will -- one person that you would model
your service after?
A. Well, the Sixth Judicial Circuit has been blessed with good judges, Judge --
well, all the way back to when Judge Gregg -- Judge George Coleman from
Winnsboro, who Mr. Elliott used to work with long years ago, Judge Barrineau,
Judge Mobley, Judge Rushing today, all of whom I think have set excellent
examples and I've watched all of them in court and tried to -- will try to
emulate certain things that all of them have done.
There are other Family Court judges that I've practiced before in the last 20
years that -- you know, that I would sort of like to pattern some of my judicial
actions after, but I don't think any one particular judge that I would point out
or pick out as being the one person that I would want to be the most like.
Q. Would you tell this Committee about your work ethic, how you meet deadlines,
how you plan to run your court and --
A. Well, you know, I think Court Administration is going to help take care of
some of that, but I certainly would plan to just meet whatever deadlines are
necessary.
I know that all judges have a heavy burden as far as case loads. The Sixth
Circuit fortunately at least Fairfield and Chester County are not as bad as
Lancaster, but I don't foresee that as being any problem. I certainly think
that I would act judicially and expeditiously in whatever matters are before me
and don't think that's going to be any problem.
Q. You stated in your questionnaire that 30 percent of your practice is domestic
work and you also said that five percent of your practice was nonjury. Can you
explain that. How about --
A. Well, you know, I'm not sure that I completely followed some of the
questions in the questionnaire as far as the percentages were concerned. As far
as nonjury, I was referring to civil matters that were referred rather than
being heard by a jury.
Obviously, all Family Court matters are nonjury and I had a -- I would say I
used the figure 30 percent, but my domestic practice is probably larger than
that, but obviously that's nonjury.
Q. Is there any area of specialty in your domestic practice?
A. No, ma'am. I'm a small town lawyer and I've enjoyed doing that for the last
20 years and hope that I provided a good service to my clients and, fortunately,
none of them are here to object to the way I represented them in the last 20
years this morning and I'm right proud of that.
But, you know, when you practice law in a small town, it's just whatever
comes in the door that day. If you feel like you're qualified to
Printed Page 1627 . . . . . Thursday, February 10,
1994
handle it -- and I feel that I've been qualified to do the things that I've
done, and fortunately for me a lot of that has been domestic work and I think
people, you know, have a certain amount of trust in my ability to practice law
in the Family Court and that's one of the reasons why I want to be the judge of
the Sixth Judicial Circuit.
Q. Well, that was my next question. What was the driving reason for you to want
to now at this point become a Family Court judge?
A. Well, I didn't want to bring this up on the record, but Walter Brown is here
today and I know a lot of ya'll on this Committee might know Walter Brown, a lot
of ya'll don't know Walter B. Brown, Jr. and there is a total different person
before you today from the Walter Brown ya'll might know.
SENATOR MOORE: Mr. Chairman, I was going to save my question until you finished,
but may I ask the question, do you think the Committee should be made aware of
any long term psychological defects you may have as a result of having the name
Walter B. Brown?
A. Well, I think the most important thing that you need to understand is he
wasn't there to influence us a whole lot.
SENATOR MOORE: Okay.
A. I think you can appreciate that, but I think one thing -- one characteristic
that I think I did get from him, that's enjoying being around people and
understanding people and I think being understanding of other people and their
feelings is an important part of what a Family Court judge has to do. And that
is one thing and I think I did get it from Walter Brown.
There are a lot of things I wouldn't want to take credit for his having given
me, but that's one that I would. Thank you, sir.
Q. Mr. Brown, will you tell us how you will go about making a decision in a
case? Will you ask for proposed orders from both sides? Would you write your
own? What are you not allowed to do before writing an order based upon the
Canons?
A. You know, the majority of the judges that I practice before in the Family
Court like to rule, and I would like to be able to rule immediately. I don't
think it's good to have clients leave the courtroom without knowing what the
judge is going to do.
If at times the case is so complex or complicated to where a proposed order
might be necessary from each of the two sides then that would be the way that I
might go about it. I would think very seldom that I would write an order, but
rather to have the two lawyers provide me with a proposed orders as to the way
to rule.
Printed Page 1628 . . . . . Thursday, February 10,
1994
But I would hope that most of the cases that are there, the majority of the
cases would be ruled on while the litigants are in the courtroom, so that
they'll know where they stand when they leave.
Q. Will you announce your decision before you asked for proposed orders?
A. If a decision can't be made from the bench that day, I may ask for proposed
orders without at least at that time announcing any decision.
Q. Living in a small town like Winnsboro and practicing there your whole career,
would you explain to the Committee how you plan to handle any situations of ex
parte communication and social engagements, any conflicts of interest that you
might see arising since you are in a relatively small, intimate professional
circle there?
A. Well, for the last 14 years, I've had the opportunity to practice before
Judge Barrineau, who was a good friend of mine prior to his going on the bench,
and I've seen Judge Barrineau over the years and known that he drew the line
when he became a judge.
And the social events as far as being invited or participated in, you know,
you have to cut those kind of things out. I'm thoroughly familiar with the
Ethics legislation -- that this Legislature passed the last couple of years and
it's not going to bother me as far as socializing is concerned.
I -- in that respect, I'm not a lot like Walter Brown, but at the same time,
ex parte communication is just something that you can't have and it's just not
going to happen in my court. It's never happened in any
-- before any judge that I know of that's ever sat in the Sixth Circuit.
Certainly, not that I've had any dealings with and certainly not with Judge
Barrineau or Judge Mobley.
Q. And what about gifts or any --
A. You know, I got ready to put down on there that I have received some gifts
from a lobbyist, but I don't know that I had to do that because it said that if
it wasn't my wife or my children or -- I forgot what the degree of kinship it
had to be -- I have received some things from a lobbyist, but the only one that
I've ever been aware of and he's a vice president of Southern Railroad.
Q. Are you currently a lobbyist for the motion picture --
A. I was during the last legislative session, but I am not currently. I
resigned when I decided to run for this position.
Q. That is my question. So have you accepted any monies from them since you
made your decision to run?
A. No, ma'am. I have not.
Q. Our records show that you have not claimed any expenses for this; is that
true as of today?
Printed Page 1629 . . . . . Thursday, February 10,
1994
A. Yes, ma'am. I didn't have to come as far as Mr. Ross or Senator Macaulay. I
only had to come 25 miles, so a couple of dollars worth of gas.
Q. In your PDQ, you state that you have insight into the problems children and
families face today because you are the parent of teenagers and being a parent
myself and I think you have the rapt interest and attention of all parents in
this audience, if you could please expand upon that and give us some insight on
how that would help you be a Family Court judge.
A. Well, I think -- in talking about temperament, I think you've got to be
understanding of people. First of all, teenagers today, the peer pressure on
teenagers today is unbelievable and, of course, I'm sure all of you that have
children understand the problems that teenagers face today with regard to drugs
and crime and the other types of things that we face on a day to day basis and
I would like to be able to sit here and tell you that I feel like I can really
make a difference, but I hope I can make a difference in the lives of teenagers
in Fairfield County or anybody else that would appear before me in the Sixth
Circuit or anywhere else in South Carolina.
But, you know, I think having the benefit of having two daughters certainly
makes me a little more qualified than somebody who may not have children who
became a Family Court judge and that was my reason for putting that in the
PDQ.
Q. And this does -- is really a follow-up, but the problem of juvenile crime is
such a growing one in South Carolina, have you thought about that and would you
share with this Committee any of your ideas on the best way to deal with that
problem of juvenile crime? You live in a relatively rural area, does that make
a difference?
A. No. Unfortunately, there is just as much crime and the same types of crime
you'll find in Fairfield, Chester or Lancaster or any other rural county as you
will in a county like Richland. I think you have to just take them on a case by
case basis.
Certainly, you hope that you can change the direction that the child may be
headed. At the same time, recently there has been some publication about some
proposed ideas that have come out of Columbia with regard to the possibility of
sending teenagers to some type of boot camp or whatever rather than sending them
to R and E and then to John G. Richards and hopefully some sentences like that
may become available that would help them.
But, you know, I think at this time that we'd have to just use what we have
available to us to try to deter them from pursuing a life of crime
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