FULL: Bond hearings for church staff and sex offender volunteer at Pawleys Island Community Church

[00:00:00]to proving his volunteering status at the Walaz Island Community Church from law enforcement.

[00:00:08]Officiating his contact with minors doing regular work at the establishment, the defendant did conspire with church leadership to conceal particulars of his probation requirements in effort to thwart enforcement of title 63 Sakon Court of Laws and furthering violations of his probation requirements. Okay. And that would be considered criminal conspiracy, sir.

[00:00:36]That's what you allegedly have admitted.

[00:00:39]All right, sir. Having said that, you now understand what you're charged with?

[00:00:43]>> Yes.

[00:00:43]>> Okay. Very good. All right, sir. Anytime you come before court, you have the right to remain silent. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, you may apply for a public defender. You have a right to a jury trial. You have a right to be present at your trial. Do you understand your right, sir?

[00:01:00]>> Yes, sir.

[00:01:01]>> You understand that if you fail to appeal your court date, you may be tried in your absence and eventually one may be issued for your arrest upon conviction. You understand that, sir?

[00:01:10]>> Yes, your honor.

[00:01:12]>> All right, Mr. Perry, there are two very important court dates I'm going to give you. These court dates are important because it's mandatory that you're present on both days. Okay, >> these are called your mandatory appearance dates. And once again, it's mandatory that you're present on both days and you be given that in writing as well. That first date, sir, is going to be September 24th at 1:30 and October 22nd at 900 a.m.

[00:01:41]Perry, you also have a right to a preliminary hearing.

[00:01:45]A preliminary preliminary hearing is a review of the evidence that the state is used to establish probable cause to substantiate the charges they brought against you. Okay.

[00:01:58]>> Yes.

[00:01:59]>> And at this hearing, you'll be allowed to ask questions and make probable motions. You will not be allowed to give this one testimony and present the evidence. Okay.

[00:02:07]>> Yes, sir.

[00:02:08]>> If you want this, you must make the request within 10 days. or you could do so by signing a request form. The clerk will present to you shortly. Okay.

[00:02:17]>> Yes.

[00:02:18]>> Hi, Madam Clerk. Is anybody here to speak on behalf of Mr. uh >> Perry?

[00:02:25]Yes, sir.

[00:02:27]>> All right.

[00:02:30]>> All right, sir. Regards to your warrants, criminal conspiracy, obstructing justice, uh your bonds going to be denied. Okay. Yes sir.

[00:02:42]>> Thank you sir.

[00:02:49]>> You want to sign your paperwork sir?

[00:02:51]>> Sure.

[00:03:15]Judge, who you want to do? Who do you want to do for next?

[00:03:19]>> Uh, who do you have? Just bring them forward.

[00:03:47]It's on here.

[00:04:28]I don't remember what it is.

[00:04:40]coffee.

[00:04:57]>> All right, Judge, who did you want us to do next?

[00:05:01]It doesn't matter.

[00:05:04]>> All right. You want to do the one with the >> uh bring Jenn Jennifer Howard fine.

[00:05:09]>> Jennifer Howard?

[00:05:10]>> Yes.

[00:05:11]>> Okay.

[00:05:13]She's in so they got to go get her real quick.

[00:05:17]>> All right.

[00:05:29]That's a problem.

[00:05:51]turn.

[00:06:28]Yes. Judge, do you want Miss Howard and her in here?

[00:06:32]>> That'd be fine.

[00:06:51]>> Good afternoon, ma'am. I'm Judge Gals and this is your bond hearing this afternoon. Can you hear me? Okay.

[00:06:57]>> Yes, sir. Very good.

[00:07:01]>> I'll be happy to hear from your attorney in just a second.

[00:07:09]All right, ma'am. If you would, just want to let you know that this is just your bond hearing. At your bond hearing, I'm just going to set your bond only and you have your day in court to decide your innocence of guilt. All right.

[00:07:20]>> Yes, sir.

[00:07:22]>> You will speak up a little louder, so everything is being recorded. Okay.

[00:07:26]>> Yes, sir.

[00:07:27]Thank you very much.

[00:07:33]>> Address, please.

[00:07:34]>> Jennifer Nicole Howard, 610 Cedar Street, Georgetown, South Carolina 29440.

[00:07:43]>> All right, ma'am. Thank you very much.

[00:07:46]And it's my understanding, uh, you've agreed with the court to have this, uh, video bonding. Am I correct?

[00:07:53]>> Yes, sir.

[00:07:56]All right, ma'am. We've come before court this afternoon. You have uh looks like three charges.

[00:08:04]All three of which are General Sessions charges.

[00:08:10]That first charge B is ending on 0134 ending a warrant that's obstructing justice.

[00:08:19]That second is criminal conspiracy ending on 0129.

[00:08:27]And the last being a thing 0128 unlawfully placing a child at risk.

[00:08:38]Do you understand those three charges?

[00:08:39]Ma'am?

[00:08:42]>> Yes, ma'am.

[00:08:43]>> Very good. All right, ma'am. Anytime you come before court, you have the right to remain silent. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, you may apply for public defender. You have a right to a jury trial. You have a right to be present at your trial. Do you understand your rights?

[00:08:59]>> Yes, ma'am.

[00:09:00]>> You understand that if you fail to appeal on your court date, you may be tried your absence and a [ __ ] warrant may be issued for your arrest upon conviction. Do you understand that, ma'am?

[00:09:09]>> Yes, sir.

[00:09:11]>> All right, ma'am. There are two very important dates I want to give you.

[00:09:15]These are called your mandatory appearance dates. And it's mandatory that you're present on both days. Okay?

[00:09:21]And you'll be given this in writing as well as your attorney. Okay. September 24th at 1:30 and October 22nd at 9:00 a.m.

[00:09:32]We also have a right to a preliminary hearing. A preliminary hearing is a probable cause hearing.

[00:09:39]It's a hearing to review the evidence that the state has used to establish probable cause to substantiate the charges that they brought against you.

[00:09:47]Okay.

[00:09:50]You'll be allowed to ask questions.

[00:09:53]You'll not be allowed to give this wrong testimony or present the evidence. And if you want, make the request within 10 days or you can do so by signing the request form. The clerk present you shortly. Okay, >> that's fine.

[00:10:06]>> I I'll be happy to hear from your attorney.

[00:10:10]>> Thank you, honor. My client is 52 years old. She has lived in this community for 19 years. Before that, she lived in Rock Hill. She's been a resident of South Carolina for her entire life. She is married and has three children, two of whom are adults, one is still school age. She and her husband are homeowners and they do have equity in their home.

[00:10:34]Your honor, I tell you all of that because at this hearing, there are only two things to consider. Whether she is a flight risk and whether she is a danger to the community. Given her lengthy ties to this area, your honor, I would submit that she is not in fact a flight risk.

[00:10:50]In addition to that, your honor, my client turned herself in. Starting last week, she retained me and I have been in contact with the sheriff's department since last week. Last week, I asked the sheriff's department to let me know if there were any warrants, and we would happily arrange a turnin. I learned about the warrants during the press conference yesterday like everybody else.

[00:11:15]Despite that, as soon as that press conference was over and those warrants were released, I got on the phone with my client. I got on the phone with the sheriff's department and I immediately arranged for her to turn herself in. She was at her parents' home, which is across the state. So, it's just a couple hours, but they did not have to look.

[00:11:34]The sheriff's department did not have to look for her. She immediately got in the car, came straight here, and turned herself into the jail last night as quickly as she could.

[00:11:43]In addition to that, your honor, this morning, my client gave a statement to the sheriff's department. She is cooperating with law enforcement. In addition to giving a statement to the sheriff's department, she brought in her electronics. She brought in her computer and her phone. She signed a consent to search form. She gave them her password.

[00:12:04]My client has done will continue to do everything she can to cooperate in this investigation.

[00:12:13]Your honor, my client was an employee.

[00:12:20]My client's boss was not just her boss, but also her pastor.

[00:12:27]He exercised a great amount of power not only over that church but over her individually.

[00:12:37]My client is now ready to cooperate with law enforcement. Will continue to do that.

[00:12:44]She trusted her boss and her pastor to be truthful and honest with her and to take care of the children and the security on that campus.

[00:12:58]Your honor, I think at this point it's fair to say that she feels like she was led astray.

[00:13:07]Your honor, she intends to cooperate so that the correct people are brought to justice. She will continue to do that.

[00:13:15]She is not a flight risk. She is not a danger to this community. And your honor, the South Carolina Constitution says that she and every other defendant are entitled to a bond when it's a nonviolent crime. This none of these are violent crimes. She is entitled to a bond. She has come in voluntarily. As soon as there were warrants for her arrest, she's cooperated. She will continue to cooperate. She's going to do everything that she can to assist in the ongoing investigation and prosecution.

[00:13:49]Your honor, she had every reason to believe that the person, her boss, who reported to her that that this arrangement that led to these charges was okay.

[00:14:05]Your honor, her boss was part of the Damascus House, which is here in the jail every day. He has close ties being here in the jail and um was in court when Mr. Perry played guilty. And so when her boss and her shepherd, her spiritual shepherd came to her and said, "There's going to be a new volunteer.

[00:14:30]This is what he's going to do. This is what he's not going to do." and I've already talked to this probation agent.

[00:14:36]It's okay. It's all clear. You're good to go. She had no reason to think that he would have been lying to her.

[00:14:44]Your honor, I'm not here to try to pay.

[00:14:46]But those arguments go to why this woman is not a danger to the community.

[00:14:52]Your honor, she needs to get home to take care of her children, particularly her minor child. She has another one going back to college.

[00:15:00]I would ask your honor to please grant her a reasonable bond.

[00:15:06]All right. Thank you very much.

[00:15:12]>> All right. Very in regards to uh 0129 criminal conspiracy 0134 obstructing justice 0128 unlawfully placing a child at risk. Bond will be set at 25,000 on each charge.

[00:15:32]Okay.

[00:15:35]>> Thank you.

[00:15:49]>> Judge.

[00:15:51]>> Yes.

[00:15:53]>> Um, do you want to do Mr. and Mrs. Williams together since they have the same attorney?

[00:16:01]Uh that'll be fine. If the attorney uh wants to do that, I'd be more than happy to do that.

[00:16:42]Judge, he said the attorney said that he would prefer to do them one at a if that's okay with you.

[00:16:48]>> That's that's fine.

[00:16:49]>> Okay.

[00:16:53]>> Either one uh would be fine first.

[00:16:56]>> All right.

[00:18:32]Good cop. You doing good?

[00:18:39]>> Yes. Can you hear me?

[00:18:40]>> You doing good?

[00:18:41]>> I'm doing great, sir. How are you?

[00:18:44]in the world.

[00:18:44]>> Awesome. Good. Good to see you.

[00:18:47]>> All righty.

[00:19:14]Good afternoon.

[00:19:16]>> Afternoon, honor.

[00:19:17]>> Right, sir. Good afternoon. I'm Judge G.

[00:19:19]So, this is the bond hearing this afternoon.

[00:19:23]Jab bond hearing. I'm just going to set your bond only.

[00:19:27]You have your day in court to decide your intercessor guilt. Okay. And I'll be happy to hear from your attorney shortly. I'll let you know when. Okay.

[00:19:36]All right. Ma'am would please state your full name and address please.

[00:19:42]>> Williams 262 island South Carolina 2958.

[00:19:51]>> All right ma'am. And how long ma'am have you been living at that address?

[00:19:58]>> 26 years maybe a few months.

[00:20:03]>> All right.

[00:20:05]Okay. Very well.

[00:20:10]All right, ma'am. Is my understanding support understanding that you agreed to video bonding this afternoon?

[00:20:16]>> Yes, sir.

[00:20:18]>> Very well.

[00:20:19]>> All right, ma'am. You come before bombing court this afternoon. You have like two charges, both of which are general sessions charges.

[00:20:27]Go over each one with you so you understand what you're charged with.

[00:20:30]Okay.

[00:20:31]Uh the first one's ending on warrant 0126 criminal conspiracy and the second ending on 0127 obstructing justice.

[00:20:48]Do you understand those two charges ma'am?

[00:20:52]>> Yes sir.

[00:20:53]>> Okay. Very well ma'am. Anytime you come before court you have the right to remain silent. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, you may apply for a public defender. You have a right to a jury trial, you have a right to be present at your trial. Do you understand your rights?

[00:21:08]>> Yes, sir.

[00:21:10]>> You understand that if you fail to appear in your court date, you may be tried in your absence and a bench warrant may be issued for your arrest upon conviction. Do you understand that?

[00:21:18]>> Yes, sir.

[00:21:20]>> Very well. All right, ma'am. I'm going to give you two very important court dates. These court dates are important because it's mandatory that you're present on both days. Okay. These are called your mandatory appearance dates and both you and your attorney will get a copy of it. All right. That first date is going to be September 24th at 1:30 and that second date is going to be October 22nd at 9:00 a.m.

[00:21:44]You also have a right to a preliminary hearing. A preliminary hearing is a probable cause hearing. Ma'am, it's a hearing to review the evidence that the state is using to establish probable cause to substantiate the charges they brought against you. Okay?

[00:22:01]>> At this hearing, you will be allowed to ask questions and make proper motions.

[00:22:05]You will not be allowed to give any sworn testimony or present the evidence.

[00:22:08]Okay? And if you want this, you must make the request within 10 days or you can do so by signing the request form the clerk will present to you shortly.

[00:22:16]Okay?

[00:22:19]I'd be happy to hear from your attorney.

[00:22:21]>> Thank you, May court. Our client is 58 years young. Uh she's been part of Holland area since 1999.

[00:22:30]Um she met her husband of 38 years. And when he was in seminary and they were in Louisville, Kentucky, um she had just graduated college, so she has a bachelor's degree in her background. Uh she's been a Sunday school director for a long time. Uh, and your honor, she does consent to surrender her passport.

[00:22:52]Uh, she's been working at the church 27 years, your honor. She has no record.

[00:22:58]She has a great deal of ties to our community having been here for 27 years or so. U she does have adult, three adult children. She does have grandchildren.

[00:23:12]Uh your honor, yesterday we found out about warrants at the press conference.

[00:23:17]They were out of town visiting relatives uh because of safety issues at their home. Their home address street was published uh I think by law enforcement.

[00:23:28]Uh and so they didn't feel safe at home and so they went to a family member's house next county over. Uh we were reaching out at the time to schedule a time to turn ourselves in. when we found out the warrants made the exact time I was on the phone with them to get this worked out law enforcement came and took them to custody uh we don't think that that was necessary use of resources because no no record they were eager to turn themselves in and begin the process of resolving these matters um again no reason to think that they're black risk that she's a flight risk she has no record no reason to think that she will be accused of any acts when she's released back or should she be granted a bond, your honor? We don't believe this is a dead prison situation.

[00:24:13]I believe that she is eager to resolve these matters. Your honor, uh, and get back in the right side again, we ask for a reasonable amount of bond to allow to show the court and handle this these cases.

[00:24:30]>> All right. Thank you very much.

[00:24:33]>> Thank you. Right, Miss Williams. In regards to warrant zero ending 0126, criminal conspiracy warrant ending 0127 obstructing justice. The bond will be set at 25,000 on each charge. Okay.

[00:25:01]>> Thank you.

[00:25:15]Clear.

[00:28:09]Good afternoon, sir. I'm Judge Gows and this is your bond hearing this afternoon.

[00:28:14]Sir, at your bond hearing, I'm just going to set your bond only and you have your day in court to decide your innocent guilt. Okay.

[00:28:23]All right, sir. If you would please state your full name and address, sir.

[00:28:28]>> Full name, Donald James Williams.

[00:28:32]>> 262 Grey Man's Loop, Holly's Island, South Carolina 29585.

[00:28:38]>> All right, sir. How long have you been living at that address?

[00:28:42]>> Um, 26 years.

[00:28:44]>> All right. Very well.

[00:28:51]>> All right, sir. It is my understanding and it's the court's understanding that you've agreed to video conferencing this afternoon.

[00:28:57]>> Yes.

[00:28:58]>> All right. All right. So, you come before bond court this afternoon. You have three charges, all of which are general sessions charges. I'm going to go over each one with you so know you'll know exactly what you're charged with.

[00:29:11]That first charge ending on warrant ending 0133, obstructing justice.

[00:29:20]Warrant ending 0132, unlawfully placing a child at risk.

[00:29:26]Warrant ending 0131, criminal conspiracy. Do you understand those three charges, sir?

[00:29:33]>> Yes, sir.

[00:29:35]>> All right, sir. Anytime you come before court, you have the right to remain silent. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, you may apply for a permanent defender. You have a right to a jury trial. You have a right to be present at your trial. Do you understand your rights?

[00:29:50]Yes, sir.

[00:29:51]>> You understand that if you fail to appear in your court date, you may be tried in your absence and the offense warrant may be issued for your arrest upon conviction. You understand that?

[00:30:00]>> Yes, sir.

[00:30:02]>> All right, sir. I'm going to give you two very important court dates. These court dates are important because it's mandatory that you're present on both days. These are called your mandatory appearance dates, and you've been given this in writing as well as your attorney.

[00:30:16]September 24th at 1:30 and October 22nd at 9:00 am. Once again, it's mandatory that you're present on both days.

[00:30:25]You also have a right to a pre a preliminary hearing. A preliminary hearing is a probable cause hearing.

[00:30:32]It's a hearing to review the evidence that the state is using to establish probable cause to uh to substantiate the charges they brought against you. And at this hearing, you'll be allowed to ask questions and make proper motions. You will not be allowed to give any sworn testimony or present any evidence. And if you want this, you must make the request within 10 days or you can do so by signing the request form the clerk present to you shortly. Okay.

[00:30:56]>> Yes, sir.

[00:30:58]>> I'd be happy to hear from your attorney.

[00:31:01]>> Thank you very much. May court, Casey Brown, Casey Brown Law. A lot of this information will be cumulative, but my client is 68 years old. Y as I said, he's been in Paulie's Island since 1999.

[00:31:13]who's a military child grew up military base in Charleston. He does have his master's degree. He's been married for 38 years. He has three adult children and grandchildren.

[00:31:24]Uh met his wife in Louisville, Kentucky when he was in seminary there. U he's he's worked this church for 27 years. He will great he'll gladly surrender his passport.

[00:31:38]He has no record and had a great deal of ties to this community.

[00:31:43]Again, we were in the midst of work of surrendering ourselves, working on a schedule. They were the warrants came out in a news conference and we were surprised, didn't get a chance, and then they picked him up in Charleston at a family member's house because they were afraid for his safety at their own home.

[00:32:02]But again, there's no reason to think that that Mr. Rose is a flight risk and there's no reason to think that Grant Barnes of action. Uh he's a to get us behind him and work towards getting these charges resolved. I don't believe there'll be any kind of flight committee will show up to court. I ask for a reasonable amount of bond that ensures he shows up and is not done. Thank you.

[00:32:29]Thank you, sir.

[00:32:34]Mr. Williams, in regards to your charge on warranty ending 0133, obstructing justice 0132 are lawfully placing a child at risk at 0131 criminal conspiracy 25,000 on each charge.

[00:32:59]cash.

[00:33:01]>> Thank God.

[00:33:02]>> Thank you, sir.

[00:33:03]>> Thank you.