Potential Corruption in South Carolina

As I have previously discussed, only a few reporters have actually covered the issues that are surrounding the dispute over James Brown’s estate. Now, it appears that the State of South Carolina has issued a subpoena against one of the reporters, Sue Summer of The Newberry Observer, demanding that she give them her notes and the names of people that she has had private conversations with about the estate dispute. It appears as if the subpoena is trying to silence Ms. Summer from reporting the news.

As I stated earlier, “the troubling matter about this dispute is that many news sources do not seem to be concerned with the lack of government accountability in this matter, even though there could be a clear violation of estate [planning principles] and government abuse. What’s worse is that these news sources might be intentionally distancing themselves from the story. There are a few legal blogs and reporters who are still reporting on this story, including The Newberry Observer’s Sue Summer.” In addition to these issues, this case calls into question whether anyone property rights will be upheld in the state of South Carolina. Even worse, the state might be using its power to abridge the First Amendment guarantee to the freedom of the press of one of the few reporters that has factually reported the issues as they are.

See Lou Ann Anderson, State-sponsored Looting Appears Ongoing in James Brown Estate Case, Examiner.com, Aug. 30, 2012; see also Hazel Sheffield, James Brown Estate Case Reporter Slapped With Subpoenas, Columbia Journalism Review, Sept. 13, 2012.

Special Thanks to Brian J. Cohan (Attorney at Law, Law Offices of Brian J. Cohan, P.C.) for bringing this article to my attention.