Ex-Atlantic Beach mayor guilty, receives probation

CONWAY -- Former Atlantic Beach Mayor Retha Pierce Sturdivant was found guilty Wednesday of resisting arrest and ordered to serve 18 months probation for an incident on Christmas Day 2007 – the first in a string of arrests and other troubles that culminated with her removal from office.

Circuit Court Judge Steven John sentenced Sturdivant to a year in prison, but suspended that sentence to 18 months on probation and gave her credit for the day she served in jail following her arrest.

Sturdivant defended herself in the trial that began Tuesday afternoon and finished Wednesday when a jury of seven women and five men found her guilty of resisting arrest after deliberating for about 30 minutes.

The ruling Wednesday concluded one case against Sturdivant, but she has been arrested three other times since that first arrest. Her first attorney was disbarred and is serving jail time for trying to have a former law partner killed and Sturdivant fired her second attorney.

In March, a Marion County judge dismissed a September 2009 driving under the influence charge after officials said the breathalyzer came back 0.0, the urine test came back clean and the only evidence was from a private witness who saw Sturdivant driving recklessly.

Sturdivant has a pending charge of hit-and-run stemming from an April 2010 incident. A 51-year-old woman told police she was traveling south on U.S. 17 inside the Atlantic Beach town limits when her vehicle was sideswiped by a white Chevrolet Blazer driven by Sturdivant.

In January 2010, Sturdivant was arrested on a charge of trespassing at town hall after a dispute with staff members.

She later filed suit, saying the arrest was intended to prevent her from uncovering a larger conspiracy among the town’s appointed officials. The charge was dismissed.

This week’s trial stemmed from Sturdivant’s first arrest, which occurred two months after she was elected mayor of Atlantic Beach.

She was arrested Dec. 25, 2007, after an Horry County police officer stopped her on U.S. 17 at Horseshoe Road for driving erratically, according to authorities.

Sturdivant said she tried to walk away from the officer to go to the bathroom. Sturdivant said she was on her way to visit a woman and had to use the restroom because of a medical condition.

“The defendant would like to say the prosecution has not proven resisting arrest without a shadow of a doubt,” Sturdivant said during her closing arguments.

“He at no time never told her ‘you are under arrest.’ He never told her ‘if you go to the bathroom or continue to go to the bathroom you will be under arrest.’”

Assistant Solicitor Scott Graustein told jurors that the duties of a driver are to stop for a police officer, remain in the vehicle and obey commands from an officer.

“Beyond a reasonable doubt, not shadow of a doubt … she wasn’t free to go in the eyes of the law and that’s an arrest,” Graustein said. “She can’t just walk away from a traffic stop.”

After the verdict was read, Sturdivant asked that jurors be polled individually regarding the decision. She then told John that she was not tried by a jury of her peers and said the jury was composed of only white people.

John disputed that claim and denied her request.

“A juror of color, juror No. 320, is part of the jury panel that found the defendant guilty. I find no basis for your motion. It is denied,” John said.

Sturdivant then asked for the solicitors to be dismissed from their office because of the way “they handled the case and stacked the jury” against her.

Later she asked for a new trial.

“There’s no reason to grant you a new trial,” John said, again denying her motion.

“The cards are stacked against me, you may proceed,” Sturdivant replied to John before she was sentenced.

Sturdivant showed no emotion when the verdict was read or at the time of her sentencing.

The 62-year-old was emotional at times during her closing arguments, and that was reflected in her voice and facial expressions when she described the events of an “unadulterated mistake.”

“If the party does not know the intricacies of the law … they are not guilty of resisting arrest. The officer at no time told the defendant to stop,” Sturdivant said.

“A lay citizen who knows nothing would react the same way I did. … That’s like expecting a baby to eat a T-bone steak and a baby has no teeth.”

Graustein told jurors that the police officer asked Sturdivant to stop walking away from him, but she did not comply with his requests.

“She would have you all believe she doesn’t know she can’t just walk away from a traffic stop,” Graustein said. “He was doing everything he could to not get forceful with her.”

Sturdivant told jurors that parts of the tape were omitted when a video from the officer’s dash camera was shown on Tuesday during the trial.

Her voice booming, Sturdivant told jurors: “If you don’t know you are under arrest, how do you know you are under arrest?”

“The defendant did not know what she was doing was wrong. She was engrossed in her need to go to the bathroom,” Sturdivant said. “I did not know I was being arrested.”

Sturdivant went on to describe her years as an educator, winning humanitarian awards and her religious beliefs and service to other people.

Sturdivant also told jurors that her arrest was part of a conspiracy to remove her from office because “the status quo” was upset she won the office and wanted to “improve the town of Atlantic Beach and move the town forward.”

“Because of the status quo and the people in power, they made me run three times [for Atlantic Beach mayoral position] and I finally won in November 2007.

“The conspiracy then started to keep me from serving,” Sturdivant said. “This officer is part of the conspiracy.”

“There are many shadows here. A shadow of doubt is the mustard seed of justice,” said Sturdivant, who also mentioned the Casey Anthony trial and doubt with that jury of that woman’s guilt. “The defense rests because the defendant is not guilty and if you have a shadow of doubt, you must find the defendant not guilty.”