Save The Last Dance For Me

The South Carolina Supreme Court has suspended a magistrate for 45 days

On February 9, 2016, respondent attended a meeting of the Newberry Cotillion Club. At the conclusion of the meeting, respondent and another attendee engaged in a verbal disagreement that escalated into a physical altercation. Both respondent and the other attendee suffered minor injuries during the altercation…

We find respondent’s misconduct warrants a forty-five (45) day suspension from judicial duties. We therefore accept the Agreement and suspend respondent from office for forty-five (45) days.

The State noted

The two-page opinion gave few details of the fracas, in which bystanders had to pry Johnson off a man he was apparently getting the best of in what was apparently a wild, anything-goes fight.

But The State newspaper obtained a police incident report of the Feb. 9, 2016, matter from the Newberry police department.

The report, written by an officer who interviewed witnesses, including the man whom Johnson struck, said Johnson and another man first exchanged heated words.

“While he was being assaulted, he grabbed Mr. Johnson by his (crotch) in hopes that it would get him off of him” but Johnson “kept attacking him,” the police report said. Meanwhile, other men were trying to pull Johnson off the man.

The sanction was imposed by consent. (Mike Frisch)