Melissa Inzerillo testifies before South Carolina’s judicial screening panel on Nov. 20, 2024. (Screenshot of SCETV legislative livestream)
COLUMBIA — South Carolina legislators for a second time in two years broke with precedent to reject a judicial candidate for an uncontested Circuit Court seat, choosing instead to restart the application and screening process.
The General Assembly — by a vote of 93-54 on Wednesday — rejected Melissa Inzerillo, of Rock Hill, for a 16th Circuit judicial seat, which covers York and Union counties.
Inzerillo was the sole candidate for the seat after York County Magistrate Jennifer Colton dropped out ahead of candidate screenings held in November.
Inzerillo’s rejection follows that of former House Democrat and Columbia lawyer James Smith, who legislators passed over last April despite being the sole candidate for a Fifth Circuit seat.
SC GOP lawmakers reject former House Democrat in controversial judicial election
Smith, in addition to practicing law for nearly three decades, served in the House before an unsuccessful bid in 2018 to oust Gov. Henry McMaster.
South Carolina is one of two states where the Legislature elects nearly all judges. Virginia is the other.
While politics and debates over abortion played a part in the Republican-led rebuff of Smith, the argument made against Inzerillo was different.
The campaign against her started with Sen. Wes Climer. The Rock Hill Republican categorized Inzerillo, who has a 22-year career as a public defender, as a “true believer” in the public defense system. Climer, who is not an attorney, suggested for that reason she might be lenient when it comes to criminal sentencing.
“I don’t trust her to adjudicate cases fairly,” Climer said. “It’s totally fine to be a public defender. It’s totally fine to be a solicitor. But if you’re a true believer in either direction, that’s a problem.”
Inzerillo did address her work as a public defender during the screening process.
“I am not anti-law enforcement, anti-victim or in favor of letting criminals go free,” she wrote in her application. “In my years in the courtroom, I have seen and acknowledged very good officers.
“I have spoken to victims and understand the hurt, confusion and anger they may have,” she continued. “And I believe that if a person commits a crime, they should be punished. I also see the effect poverty, drugs and domestic violence have on my clients and how various sentences affect their lives and the lives of their families.”
Inzerillo went on to describe the kind of judge she hopes to be.
“Some of the best judges I have been in front of made defendants and victims feel like this was their day in court (regardless of how the case turned out) and that made a difference to them,” she wrote.
In an exchange, one member of the screening panel, Columbia defense lawyer Pete Strom, encouraged her to own her time spent as a public defender and “stand up and do what you think is right, and not worry about the criticism.”
Strom, a former prosecutor and U.S. attorney, went on to suggest that the York County circuit has a reputation among defense lawyers as handing down harsher sentences than elsewhere in the state.
“What’s happening up in York County ain’t the norm,” he said.
If she had been elected, Strom encouraged her to study the sentencing practices of judges in other parts of the state.
A second break from precedent
But Inzerillo ultimately was not successful.
Historically when there is a single candidate, the General Assembly has elected that person to the bench by acclamation. But faced with a choice, several members of the York County delegation lobbied the larger body to vote “no” and reopen the process to other applicants.
Of the legislators whose districts include parts of York County, only four out of 12 voted in Inzerillo’s favor.
“If we trust the (screening) process, I think she should have made it through,” said freshman Rep. David Martin. “But it didn’t work out that way.”
The Rock Hill Republican, who is an attorney, cast one of the four yes votes for Inzerillo, as did GOP Rep. Dennis Moss of Gaffney.
Moss, a retired highway patrolman, said he met with Inzerillo before the election and was satisfied she would be a good candidate.
Inzerillo was seeking the unexpired term of Judge Dan Hall, who is retiring later this month with just over two years left on his term. Hall worked as a lawyer for more than 25 years — with stints as a prosecutor and as a public defender — before being sworn to the Circuit Court bench in 2015.
Among the other judicial contests Wednesday was the race for the seat for which Smith was snubbed. Two candidates remained at the time of the election: Christopher Taylor and William Witherspoon.
Taylor, a U.S. assistant attorney, won out by a vote of 112 to 36.
He takes over the Circuit Court seat previously held by Judge DeAndrea Gist Benjamin, the wife of former Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin. President Joe Biden nominated her to the federal Court of Appeals in August 2022. The U.S. Senate confirmed her appointment in 2023.
Other elections
The only other contest was for an at-large Circuit Court seat.
After two rounds of voting, Greenwood trial lawyer Jane Merrill beat out an Aiken public defender and a Lancaster County assistant solicitor for the seat.
2 circuit court judges, state agency lawyer vetted for seat on SC Appeals Court
In other elections, Sumter Circuit Court Judge Kristi Curtis was promoted to a seat on the state’s second highest court.
She was the final candidate in the running for a spot on the state Court of Appeals, since now-Justice Letitia Verdin ascended to the state Supreme Court over the summer.
Courtney Clyburn Pope of Aiken — a Circuit Court judge and the daughter of longtime state Rep. Bill Clyburn — and the state Department of Revenue’s chief legal officer, Jason Luther, dropped out last week.
And Thomas Rode, a business and contracts lawyer in Charleston, was uncontested for the Circuit Court seat previously held by Judge Bentley Price of Charleston.
South Carolina’s judicial screening panel pulled Price from the bench last year, opting not to re-recommend him after lawyers and victim’s families testified that he had made questionable rulings. Critics included 1st Circuit Solicitor David Pascoe, who The State reported claimed Price had shown leniency to clients of lawyers who are also state legislators.