Posted by rotel (Lucia Creedence) on April 10, 2008 at 9:15 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Mrs. Drawdy,
I wanted to ask you a quick question about the 21% conviction rate you claim for the current solicitor. I read that Adams had a 89% conviction rate. Which brings me to my question. Is the number you claim based on total number of warrants issued. And if so, is that really a fair or honest number. The reason I ask is because I had a neighbor in Westminster that was writing bad checks. He had 18 warrants served. But he was only convicted once of all charges, as is customary. It's also my understanding that there is a pre-trial intervention program. Once again there would be warrants not convicted. And there would also be warrants dismissed in court due to no probable cause or over-zealous law enforcing, like Mr. Talley was speaking of yesterday. I appreciate your patience in clearing up this discrepancy.

Posted by SarahDrawdy (Sarah Drawdy) on April 11, 2008 at 12:29 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Ms. Creedence

Thank you for your questions. They are good ones.

The sort answer is that Ms. Adams herself has a 100% conviction rate at trial. Sounds good, right? But when you realize that she's only tried one case it's not so impressive, is it?

Ms. Adams talks about the conviction rate AT TRIAL. I talk about total convictions, including trials and pleas.

The Oconee Solicitor's Office disposed of 3,901 warrants in 2007. Of those warrants, only 14 of them were disposed of through trials. That doesn't mean there were 14 trials. Most of the trials involved multi-counts. So there were actually only a handful of trials. With so few trials, I hope the conviction rate would be high. But again, the trials account for only 14 out of nearly 4,000 warrants. And they lost some of those trials.

Most cases are being pled. According to Court Administration, defendants pled to 800 warrants.

So my opponent got convictions on 812 warrants out of 3,901. That's a 21% conviction rate. The year before, it was only 19%.

Perhaps there are a lot of bad checks as you suggest. But all 16 Circuit Solicitor's offices reduce multi-counts.

And all 16 circuits make use of Pre-Trial Intervention.

Yet other circuits ar getting convictions on a MUCH greater scale.

What you suggest is logical, dismissing some multi-counts in exchange for a plea to one warrant and referring appropriate cases to PTI. All circuits do that.

So what explains the fact that out of 16 circuits we are number 2, near the top, in terms of dismissals, and number 15, near the bottom, in terms of convictions?

Let's look at a comparable circuit. Pickens County disposed of 3,669 warrants in 2007. They dsposed of 1,499 warrants through guilty pleas and 28 warrants through trials. Their conviction rate is 41%

Are they just better in Pickens?

Folks can continue to look for ways to explain away the low conviction rate. I'm offering to change the direction of the Solicitor's Office. We shouldn't be apologizing for high dismissal rates and low conviction rates.

If anyone thinks conviction rates don't matter, than all they need to do is meet with victims. Very quickly they learn that convictions do matter. They also matter to law enforcement.

My opponent has been in office for nearly three and a half years. She has yet to try a case in Oconee. She tried her first case as Solicitor in Anderson just a few weeks ago.

As I see it, either law enforcement is serving lots of bad warrants (magistrates sign those too) or lots of cases are being dumped by the Solicitor's office.

Ask yourself, what's the last big trial you remember in Oconee County? Ask my opponent, how many cases have been tried in General Sessions Court in Oconee since she took over. Not very many.

I'm on the side of law enforcement in this race. They're doing their job. Cases need to be prosecuted.

I appreciate your questions.

Posted by rotel (Lucia Creedence) on April 13, 2008 at 5:15 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Is it not a good thing that cases are being pled? Justice is being served and tax payers are saving a dollar. Not every warrant served needs it's day in court. Wouldn't your job as prosecutor be trying to convince guilty folks to plea or are you suggesting that all warrants need to go to trial. I know as a taxpayer, I couldn't afford that. I wanted to ask you, when you were prosecuting for the 7th and the 10th districts, were you lead prosecutor on those cases or where you playing second chair. And also, what has your experience been since then, prosecutorialy speaking of course.

Posted by SarahDrawdy (Sarah Drawdy) on April 13, 2008 at 7:30 p.m. (Suggest removal)

I appreciate the question. I have never said every case should be tried. Nor have I ever suggested anything of the kind. You are correct. They cannot all be tried. Most cases are indeed moved through pleas.

However, not every case can be pled. Some cases need to be tried. Over the course of the past three years I believe the Oconee office has only conducted 15 trials. That's an average of 5 per year.

I simply believe we can do better than that. There is an overcrowded jail with defendants waiting for their day in court. And I promise you that not all of them are going to plead. Let's try the case. And if we don't have the evidence, dismiss it and move on.

The job of Solicitor is hard work. There are no shortcuts.

As for your second question, I have prosecuted as first chair, second chair, third chair, and several times as first chair alone.

I left the 7th circuit September 14, 2007. I have been a full-time candidate since last fall. Two counties, that's a huge undertaking. And as you well know, it's take time getting to know folks.

Thanks for the questions.

Posted by icwhour (Susie Justice) on April 14, 2008 at 6:52 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Ms. Drawdy, since you’ve spent your three years as an attorney working in Spartanburg not Anderson, I think it would be helpful if you clarified your qualifications since the people in this community do not follow the news in Spartanburg. Did you personally try any murder cases as the lead prosecutor and if so, which cases? I would like to know how those cases turned out. What about prosecuting child molesters? What is your trial prosecution experience in that area? In your three years working up in Spartanburg, how many cases were you able to win at trial, what kind of cases were they and what kind of sentences were given? Thank you for your time.

Posted by rotel (Lucia Creedence) on April 16, 2008 at 4:48 p.m. (Suggest removal)

I to would like to know what your experience has been as lead prosecutor and what your conviction rate has been. Including type of case and sentence result. Also, how many cases were plead when you were prosecuting?