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 5320, Apr. 28 | Printed Page 5340, Apr. 28 |
Printed Page 5330 . . . . . Thursday, April 28, 1994
A. To this point, the only money that I've spent is for a resume and some cards that I have had printed.
Q. Would you please report that to Ms. Satterwhite and -- at the appropriate time, supplement your --
A. Yes, ma'am.
Q. -- Questionnaire?
A. These -- the resume nor the cards have been distributed yet, but I did spend some money having them printed.
Q. Thank you, sir. Mr. Myrick, I note that your practice began in 1961.
A. That's correct. That was after I served three years as a judge advocate in the Air Force.
Q. And that you are currently a municipal judge and have been one for a year and a few months.
A. Yes, ma'am. That is correct.
Q. Since you are now a municipal judge, tell us what your idea of good judicial temperament is, please.
A. I think that until you've seen a bad one, you don't really know what a good one is. We had one judge that called all the attorneys in the room and used profanity and just words that I've never heard, and we started to report him, but I told him in a nice way, because I was president of the Bar, that we would appreciate him not doing that anymore.

But if I were a judge, I would be of even temperament. I would respect the clients and all the attorneys. First of all, you have to keep the courtroom quiet. I would tolerate no noise from anyone, and I -- it has to be judged -- Mr. Justice Rhodes, William Rhodes, taught me that, because his courtroom was always like a tomb and he was -- he -- once you start with that, you can maintain discipline. And you do not have to curse and do whatever's necessary to do that. And I would think that that's the way that I would handle a courtroom.
Q. Is that the way you handle your Municipal Court --
A. Yes, ma'am. We have court every other week and, for example, Monday, there was -- the courtroom was packed. I handled about 50 cases, 70 percent minority, and you just have to do it that way.
Q. What will be your approach to the litigants in your courtroom?
A. They have to realize that you care about them. You have that -- you have a decorum. As they say, you have a presence, and you just treat them, because it is their day, as best you can.
Q. Would you tell the Committee, sir, why you want to be a Family Court judge at this point?
A. Yes. Could I have a drink of water, please?

Printed Page 5331 . . . . . Thursday, April 28, 1994
(Off the record)
A. Repeat the question, please.
Q. Certainly. I asked you why you wanted to be a Family Court judge.
A. I want to address the issue of juvenile crime. I think that this is something that has got to be addressed. We cannot put our heads in the sand. The juvenile -- the subculture of juveniles that -- on the one hand, you have to be understanding, realize they come from poor homes, but I do not think that they should be coddled. There's a difference.

I think -- I feel very strongly that if a juvenile is capable of rape and murder, that they ought to be tried as an adult. That's on the one hand. On the other hand, we need better education in my county, in Allendale County.

It's a paternal situation, the fathers are not there. The children just go out and do whatever they want to. They kicked the back door in to my office about two weeks ago, came in, ransacked the office. They were caught, and their ages ranged from eight to fifteen. And this is something that's got to be addressed now because if we don't, it's going to really result in a horrible, terrible situation.
Q. Using that as an example, what would you do if you were the Family Court judge and that case came before you?
A. Of course, every case is different and I -- if I found a sense of remorse and the person, the young man or woman, understood what was really going on, I would give them a second chance.

But on the other hand, if they came up with an attitude problem, in a situation where I felt that they were one of the have-nots who wanted to take, take, take, not give, I would treat them rather severely.
Q. Would you please tell us about your Family Court experience? I believe that you say that you have spent a majority of your time in Family Court; is that correct?
A. Yes, ma'am. You have to realize that Allendale has only six attorneys in the whole county. And I do a tremendous amount of pro bono work with DSS, and Mr. Sanders can attest to that. We stay in court a lot representing appointments, guardians ad litem and stuff like that, and it's just -- we spend a great amount of our practice doing the pro bono work because there's so few attorneys in the county.

And I handle divorces, many, many divorces, contested divorces. I have a, I don't know whether it's an enviable reputation or not, of being rather tough, having been a trial lawyer for so many years, and I've had some right interesting cases in Family Court.
Q. When you say you've been tough, you are --
A. Well, let me -- I have --

Printed Page 5332 . . . . . Thursday, April 28, 1994
Q. -- vigorous about your --
A. I am -- I am vigorous. That's the way I was trained. I was trained as a trial lawyer and I have to go at it. I mean, there's no halfway. You just have to do it or not do it.
Q. Have you handled adoptions?
A. Yes, ma'am.
Q. Have you represented parties in a paternity hearing?
A. Yes. As a matter -- if you would refer to one of my cases, I had a young man who was -- whose wife was after him. He was in service and she wrote his commanding officer and he was going to be court-martialed, and finally we had a hearing. I had DNA testing, and the case was Patricia Annette Williams versus Rodney L. Williams, and found out that two of the children -- two of the three children were not even his. So that was a very hotly contested and complicated case.
Q. Have you represented juveniles in Family Court?
A. By appointment, I think. Not many juveniles in Family Court.
Q. How much of your time is spent in the courtroom, sir?
A. Well, my percentage of litigation is 50 percent, but I would say 25 to 30 percent in the courtroom.
Q. That would be the time you spend in court?
A. Yes, ma'am.
Q. From your Personal Data Questionnaire, I note that you have taught at USC-Salkehatchie awhile back in commercial law. Have you done any other teaching or have you participated --
A. That's the only teaching that I've ever done. I've given lectures, but insofar as a teaching position, that's the only jobs that I've had.
Q. Have those lectures been in CLE settings or are they more community lectures, when you say --
A. Community lectures. Not in a CLE setting.
Q. Have you ever been found in contempt or sanctioned by any court that you've --
A. No, I have not.
Q. This is just a question of curiosity, Mr. Myrick, but what kind of advice would you give to a young lawyer these days?
A. I would tell a young lawyer, be true to himself. There will be many cases when he has a gray area, but as long as he's true to himself, that would be one element of what I would tell him. I would also tell him, and this is good, we had an old dean in law school, he said when you go home, put your cases in a corner and leave them there. Don't go home and agonize over cases, ruin your family.
Printed Page 5333 . . . . . Thursday, April 28, 1994
Be true to yourself and to your family, and in that way I feel -- and also, try to be kind and helpful and -- to everybody as much as you could and have a reflection of a young attorney who does his best and who cares. That's what I would tell him.
Q. Thank you. What is your typical workweek like, Mr. Myrick?
A. This is a small, very -- Allendale, I might add, has never had a sitting judge in 40 years. It's a small -- and that -- only six lawyers, that might explain that. I don't know. But it's just a situation -- give me that question again, now?
Q. I just asked you what was your normal, typical workweek.
A. My normal workweek?
Q. Right.
A. Get up, go to work at 8:30, and then I break at 12:00, come back at 1:00 and then stay as long as necessary. In a small town, you have a lot of farmers and agriculture people, and they can't get off work until 5:00, 5:30, so oftentimes I have to stay in the office until 5:00, 6:00, 7:00.

But the first thing I do when I come to the office, at 9:30, I call the police station. I ask them -- this is in my capacity as municipal judge. I ask them if they have any warrants to be signed or anything like that -- bond hearings. If they say no, then I go on with my workday.

All right, at 5:00 o'clock, if I am not in my office, if I'm not -- don't have work there, I go back to the police station and have bond hearings of people who I've had put in jail by signing the necessary warrants.

I might add, it's an interesting thing, that I'll probably be called on to sign two more murder warrants against this Wallace man. We have found that he allegedly killed two women in Allendale, which will add to his total. But that's just typical of what I do.
Q. Do you think that this schedule would change at all when you -- if you become Family Court --
A. Not really. Of course, I would divest myself of any municipal work, but it wouldn't change anything. When something's in front of you. Don't procrastinate, just go ahead and do it and get it over with is the way I like to do it. I don't like to have things hanging on my neck.

I like to hunt and fish a lot, because in Allendale, Lord knows, that's all there is to do. If you don't hunt and fish in Allendale, you just might as well move because you would definitely die of boredom, and I say this with all love and -- if you don't have a shotgun or a fishing pole, there are no theaters in Barnwell County, Allendale County or Hampton County. In three counties -- there's three counties and there's not one movie theater.

Printed Page 5334 . . . . . Thursday, April 28, 1994
The only thing we do have is the Salkehatchie Players, which I've been a Trustee for 27 years. It's at USC-Salkehatchie, and I've been Chairman of that.
Q. Well, let me ask you this, then. Perhaps this is digressing, but what activities can you involve juveniles in? Let's say you're the Family Court Judge --
A. We have --
Q. -- and you wanted to establish some --
A. We have a recreational director --
Q. -- other programs.
A. They have softball teams and basketball teams and things like that. That's -- the juveniles have got to -- we have a hard-core of juveniles with an attitude. They do not care about anything. They are fighting each other.

Last Monday night, I had razor cuttings, stabbings, one hit another one with a baseball bat, just -- and I asked those young men -- they'd get up in front of me and I'd say, "Why don't y'all join the Army if you want to fight so much?"

There's a place called Flatt Street in Allendale. This judge told me, he said, "I've been in two wars, but no officer could ever get me upon command to go to Flat Street on a Saturday night." He said -- I mean, just every -- you would not believe the crime that's going on among the juveniles.

And so we're just going to have to find -- get them early and find something for them. We even have to have
-- we even had to set up a curfew of 10:00 o'clock to get them off the street.
Q. Is that functioning? Is that working?
A. It's functioning, and I told them I didn't know whether it was constitutional or not, but it's functioning. It's working.
Q. Mr. Myrick, how will you go about making your decision in a case, in a Family Court case? How will you get the order written --
A. The first thing you have to do is divest the emotions from the facts. I mean, in other words, you've got to keep your eye on the sparrow, as Dean Prince told us. Keep your eye on the issues. Keep your -- keep the welfare of the child foremost in your mind. Sometimes you might have to hurt the mother, sometimes you have to hurt the father and go through this. But the welfare of the child is of the paramount concern because the child is there, he is at the mercy, I mean, of anything that's done to him.
Q. Will you be writing your own orders, Mr. Myrick, or will you be using attorneys to propose --

Printed Page 5335 . . . . . Thursday, April 28, 1994
A. I would elicit the facts, rule on the facts, and then I would tell the prevailing attorney to submit me an order, subject to my revision and, upon reading the order and revising it, comparing it with my notes, I would then sign the order if everything was okay, send the opposing other attorney a copy of my order.
Q. What is your experience, sir, with the whole subject of ex parte communication --
A. I just --
Q. -- being in a small county?
A. -- do not believe in them. As I said, Mr. Justice Rhodes, if you wanted to insult him or make him turn red, you try to talk to him about a case without the other attorney being present. I just feel that it's a definite no-no. It just should not be done in any way or shape or form.
Q. What is your experience with this subject as a municipal judge?
A. In what regard?
Q. Well, do people try to talk to you about --
A. Oh, yes.
Q. -- a case?
A. All the time. They call me up --
Q. And what is your response?
A. I tell them that this is my law office. I cannot talk to you without a police officer being present. I'm not going to try this case now. I'm not going to listen to why you don't think you should be charged with running a stop sign. I'm just -- save it for court. That's what I tell them, and I refuse to discuss it. As Mr. Beach said, you have to have a presence.
Q. Have you -- would you please tell the Committee how you have gone about introducing yourself to Members of the General Assembly?
A. I have not done anything except hang around and say,
"Hello, how do you do?" And I must admit, I feel very stupid doing that because I can't say anything to them. I haven't said anything to them and I think that that's the -- those are the rules of the game and you just have to play by them.

Now, assuming that I am found to be qualified, I will try to do the best I can in eliciting pledges. But I have not tried to elicit any pledges. I haven't been any -- to any functions, parties with legislators there or anything like that.
Q. Have you asked anyone to write a letter on your behalf?
A. No. No, ma'am.
Q. And so, then, you have not directly or indirectly solicited any --
A. No, ma'am, I have not. I have not.
Q. What is your opinion of mediation, Mr. Myrick?

Printed Page 5336 . . . . . Thursday, April 28, 1994
A. This -- mediation in pretrial, good. The courts now are just so full that I think it's very good. And anytime you can get the parties together to keep from spending the State's money in court, lengthy court battles, I think -- I'm fully in favor of it.
Q. Have you had any experience with it yourself?
A. Never have had any experience in mediation per se. I've had -- been special referee in certain cases.
SENATOR MCCONNELL: Thank you, ma'am. Any Members of the Committee have any questions? It seems you've answered them all. Thank you, sir.
A. Thank you, sir, and ma'am.
SENATOR MCCONNELL: Appreciate you coming.
REPRESENTATIVE ALEXANDER: I request a break at this time, please.
SENATOR MCCONNELL: All right, we'll take a five-minute break by legislative time.
REPRESENTATIVE ALEXANDER: Is that Senate time or House?
SENATOR MCCONNELL: By Senate time.
REPRESENTATIVE ALEXANDER: Okay, I'll know when to be back.

(A short break was taken)
SENATOR MCCONNELL: We begin the hearing again and begin the process. We have, I believe, two left. Next would be Mr. Walter H. Sanders, Jr. Mr. Sanders, how are you doing this morning?
MR. SANDERS: Just fine. How are y'all?
SENATOR MCCONNELL: I see you will be for the Judge of Family Court of the Fourteenth Judicial Circuit, Seat Number Two.
WALTER H. SANDERS, JR., having been duly sworn, testified as follows:
SENATOR MCCONNELL: This is your first screening, ever?
MR. SANDERS: Yes, sir.
SENATOR MCCONNELL: Have you had a chance to review the Personal Data Questionnaire Summary?
MR. SANDERS: I have.
SENATOR MCCONNELL: And does it need any clarification or corrections?
MR. SANDERS: It does not.
SENATOR MCCONNELL: Do you have any objection, then, to our making that Summary a part of the record of your sworn testimony as if you said it here today?
MR. SANDERS: No, sir.

Printed Page 5337 . . . . . Thursday, April 28, 1994
SENATOR MCCONNELL: So that will be done at this point in the transcript.

PERSONAL DATA QUESTIONNAIRE SUMMARY

1. Walter H. Sanders, Jr.
Home Address: Business Address:
Seventh Street 117 Main Street
P. O. Box 840 P. O. Box 840
Fairfax, SC 29827 Fairfax, SC 29827

2. He was born in Fairfax, South Carolina on July 24, 1952. He is presently 41 years old.

4. He was married to Cynthia Gore on April 25, 1981. He has two children: Walter Hazel, III, age 10, and Hardee Gore, age 6.

5. Military Service: No.

6. He attended the University of South Carolina, 1970-1974, B.S. Degree in Accounting, and the University of South Carolina Law School, 1974-1977, Juris Doctor Degree.

8. Legal/Judicial education during the past five years:
Attendance at numerous CLE and JCLE programs

9. Taught or Lectured:
He has been a part-time Associate Professor at the University of South Carolina - Salkehatchie Branch teaching Business Law.

12. Legal experience since graduation from law school:
November, 1977 - July, 1979 Associate with the Law Firm of Lawton, Myrick & Detrick; Allendale, South Carolina
August, 1979 - present Sole Practitioner - Walter H. Sanders, Jr., P.A.

The general character of his practice has been a general practice since returning to Allendale County.

Printed Page 5338 . . . . . Thursday, April 28, 1994
13. Rating in Martindale-Hubbell: He is only listed in Martindale- Hubbell.

14. Frequency of appearances in court:
Federal - 5%
State - 95%
Other -

15. Percentage of litigation:
Civil - 50%
Criminal - 15%
Domestic - 35%

16. Percentage of cases in trial courts:
Jury - 25%
Non-Jury - 75%
Sole Counsel and/or Associate Counsel

17. Five (5) of the most significant litigated matters in either trial or appellate court:
(a) Virginia Ruth Allen v. William Dale Allen (Family Court). This case involved the granting of a father and husband custody of the minor children and support from the wife.
(b) H. J. Kinard and Flossie Kinard v. Beth Morris, Paul W. Morris and Amy Paulette Morris, a minor child under the age of five (5) years (Family Court). This case involved the conflict between natural parents and grandparents and what is in the best interest of the minor child in regards to custody and visitation privileges.
(c) State of South Carolina v. Eric Robinson (Circuit Court). This was a death penalty case involving multiple defendants who murdered two individuals.
(d) State of South Carolina v. George Campfield (Circuit Court). This was a murder case of the Defendant's wife and her unborn fetus.
(e) State of South Carolina v. Edward Lester Rhein (Circuit Court). This was a murder case by two individuals who were only 16 and 17 years of age.

Printed Page 5339 . . . . . Thursday, April 28, 1994
18. Five (5) civil appeals:
(a) Beth Morris and Paul Morris, Petitioners-Respondents v. Flossie Kinard, Respondent-Appellant and H. J. Kinard and Flossie Kinard, Petitioners-Appellants v. Beth Morris, Paul Morris & Amy Paulette Morris, a minor child under the age of five (5) years, Respondents-Respondents. This case was in the Supreme Court of South Carolina, and the date of decision was June 26, 1979.
(b) Terry Cohen, Plaintiff-Respondent v. Allendale Coca-Cola Bottling Co., merged w/and into Columbia Coca-Cola Bottling Co., Defendant- Appellant. This case was in the South Carolina Court of Appeals, and the date of decision was December 29, 1986. 351 S.E.2d 897 (S.C. App. 1986)

20. Judicial Office:
Appointed Municipal Judge of Town of Fairfax, 1980-1994
Appointed Municipal Judge of Town of Varnville, 1984-1994
Appointed Municipal Judge of Town of Brunson, 1988-1989
Appointed Interim Municipal Judge of Town of Allendale, 1992 -
Jurisdiction of Municipal Courts is offenses which are subject to the penalties of a fine of not more than $500 or imprisonment for not more than 30 days or both (criminal jurisdiction only)

Appointed Master-in-Equity for Allendale County - April 2, 1991 to 1994
Masters-in-Equity have jurisdiction in equity matters referred by the Circuit Court. They have the power and authority of a Circuit Court sitting without a jury.

21. Five (5) Significant Orders or Opinions:
(a) Small Business Funding Corp. v. Metric Constructors, Inc.
(b) The Farm Credit Bank of Columbia f/k/a The Federal Land Bank of Columbia v. Charsana, Inc., et al.
(c) Ernestine W. Robinson v. Brenda P. Bennett as Probate Judge of Allendale County, et al.
(d) Douglas Faunt, Jr. and Emily F. Clarkson v. Rainsford & Sons, et al.
(e) Cecil Chavous, et al. v. John Sanders, Jr., d/b/a Sanders Logging and Trucking

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