Four Columbia lawyers square off in bid for longtime SC Judge Manning’s post
Four Columbia lawyers were grilled Tuesday by a state legislative screening panel for the seat that retiring South Carolina Judge Casey Manning has held for 25 years.
The four attorneys — Daniel Coble, Richland County Probate Judge Amy McCulloch, Kate Whetstone Usry and Boyd Young — appeared Tuesday before the 10-member joint Judicial Merit Screening Commission, which will screen and advance up to three names for a vote before the full 170-member General Assembly.
But commission members adjourned Tuesday afternoon without taking a vote on which candidates will be advanced to the General Assembly.
Originally, seven Columbia lawyers competing for Manning’s seat. Kevin Hall, Theresa Johns and Regina Lewis all withdrew.
A state circuit court judge’s job — good for six years — pays approximately $197,000 a year.
Only one will win the prestigious, high-paying post — a fact that last year caused House Minority Leader Todd Rutherford, D-Richland, a screening commission member, to compare judges’ races to the survivalist popular movie, “Hunger Games.”
South Carolina is one of a few states where its lawmakers elect judges, rather than voters.
Here are the four candidates for Manning’s seat:
▪ Coble, 34, is a 2009 Clemson University graduate and 2012 University of South Carolina Law School graduate. Coble’s credentials include being an assistant solicitor with the 5th Circuit Solicitor’s office from 2012-2017, and he was a Richland County magistrate judge from 2017 to this year. He’s now in private practice and has written on a variety of legal topics.
▪ McCulloch, 57, is a 1987 USC graduate and 1990 USC Law School graduate. A former 5th Circuit assistant solicitor from 1991-1996, she was elected Richland County probate judge in 1998 and has been reelected to four-year terms in that post ever since. Probate judges deal with estates, guardianship cases, marriage licenses and other matters. She has held a variety of posts with state and national probate judges’ associations and worked with others on issues concerning mental and behavioral health, including abuse and suicide prevention.
▪ Usry, 39, is a 2004 USC graduate and a 2007 graduate of the USC Law School. From 2007-2019, she was an assistant solicitor with the 11th Judicial Circuit Solicitor’s office, where she worked domestic violence cases, crimes of violence and was a supervisor helping with hiring and preparing cases for trial. Since 2019, she has been in private practice with Whetstone, Perkins & Fulda, where she has worked on plaintiff’s lawsuits and represented some criminal defendants.
▪ Young, 46, is a 1996 Citadel graduate and 1999 USC Law School graduate. After graduation, Young was a lawyer in the Charleston County public defender’s office and in the Georgia state-supported defense in capital cases. Since 2008, he has been with the S.C. Commission on Indigent Defense, where he has been chief attorney of its death penalty trial division since 2017.
Coble, Usry and Young have tried before to be elected to a judge’s seat. This is McCulloch’s first bid.
South Carolina’s legal world is small, and often, the candidates have personal connections to people on the screening commission or the state’s political establishment.
For example, Coble is the son of former longtime Columbia mayor Bob Coble and the grandson of the late S.C. Attorney General Daniel McLeod.
McCulloch is the wife of Columbia attorney Joe McCulloch, who has represented clients on numerous high-profile cases over the years. Usry is the daughter of Charles Whetstone, a state judge from 1991-1998.
Young is from Sumter, and his lawyer father gave House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Murrell Smith, R-Sumter, his first job, Smith said last year at a previous hearing.
Smith is the chairman of the legislative judicial screening commission.
This story will be updated.
This story was originally published November 16, 2021 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Four Columbia lawyers square off in bid for longtime SC Judge Manning’s post."