Axelrod & Associates Blog

February 2010

2010-02-02T13:33:00.000-08:00

Client was charged with trafficking crack cocaine - 3rd offense. Client was facing a minimum of 25 years in prison with a maximum of 30 years in prison. Client was offered 15 years in prison if he would plead guilty.

Mr. Axelrod successfully negotiated a probationary sentence for client.

Police Report: North Myrtle Beach Mayor’s husband allegedly stalked woman

2009-09-03T18:02:00.000-07:00

By Landon Sears
Digital Journalist
Published: August 31, 2009

A report from North Myrtle Beach Public Safety filed by a woman News13 has decided not to identify alleges David W. Hatley harassed the woman several times, but he was never arrested.

The report alleges Mayor Marilyn Hatley’s husband stalked the woman between February and May of 2008.

The woman’s name is blackened out on the report we obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.

News13 also learned today that SLED did an “assessment threat” on the case.

According to a SLED spokeswoman, agents spoke to David Hatley and warned him not to contact the woman again.

It remains unclear as to why SLED got involved.

The SLED spokeswoman says North Myrtle Beach Public Safety did not request assistance and the woman’s husband says she did not contact SLED either.

So, why weren’t any charges filed? That’s the question at least one local attorney who handles criminal cases is asking.

“Well here (points to report) it looks like if you’re married to the mayor in North Myrtle Beach it looks like the chief of police won’t do anything,” said Axelrod.

Axelrod is referring to the report that details a series of statements given by a 38-year-old woman.

She tells police about a series of events when David Hatley allegedly harassed her.

She says in the report, “On or around February 5th, 2008 while my husband was out of town, David came to my house and banged on my bedroom window, yelling ‘let me in.’ I called the NMB police and a ‘keep watch was issued.’

She goes on to say, “On March 18th…David walked into my front door and began yelling obscenities. He called me a slut and a whore and that every cockhound in town would be calling me. I asked him to leave and instead he walked to the refrigerator and got out a drink.”

“And you’ve told me that Mr. Hatley was in this victim’s home. That’s burglary in the first degree. Entering a home,” said Axelrod.

However, it’s unclear whether the victim attempted to press charges or asked for Hatley to be arrested, though she did say she wanted to be notified if Hatley was arrested.

“I would like to be notified of an arrest and if this was the victim’s paperwork, then yes, this would say to me to that she wanted an arrest to occur,” said Axelrod.

On May 6th of last year, the victim said “Hatley was passing by her house in his truck and she became fearful for her safety and her children’s safety.”

According to the report, she called police and filed an incident report with Lance Corporal R. B. Michael.

After she filed the report, she alleges Hatley returned to her house on a motorcycle but left after the woman advised him she was calling the police.

The victim’s husband says Hatley has not caused any trouble since then.

News13 tried calling Hatley to get his side of the story but he did not answer his phone when we called him from outside his home on 4624 Eyerly St. in North Myrtle Beach.

News13 also tried to catch him at his job in the pharmacy department at the Bi-Lo on Main Street, but two store managers turned our news crew away.

“If you guys want to talk to David Hatley you’ll have to do it somewhere besides Bi-Lo,” said the store manager.

While News13 was unable to get in touch with David Hatley, we also tried getting in touch with Public Safety Director William Bailey, the person Axelrod says should have arrested Hatley, even though no arrest was made.

City spokesperson Nicole Aiello emailed News13’s Landon Sears, saying Director Bailey is unavailable for an interview, however she says “The city of North Myrtle Beach public safety department handled the allegations against Mr. Hatley in the same manner as in similar cases where the victim declines cooperation.”

Murder charge dropped in Myrtle Beach homeless man's death; judge fines detective

2009-08-06T09:29:00.000-07:00

CONWAY -- Midway through the murder trial for a teen accused in the 2006 beating death of a homeless man, a Circuit Court judge ruled that prosecutors did not present enough evidence and dropped the charge against the 19-year-old.

At the end of the prosecution's presentation of the case, Judge Steven John granted defense attorney Stuart Axelrod's motion for a directed verdict, which is a ruling by the judge to acquit the defendant because the prosecution doesn't have enough evidence for a conviction.

John also fined Horry County police detective John Lewis $250 after holding him in contempt of court for not providing all of his case file information to attorneys before the trial began this week in the three-year-old case.

Bilal Harris, 19, faced life in prison if convicted of murder in the April 1, 2006, death of 51-year-old Steven Walsh. Harris hugged his family after the judge announced his ruling.

"The mere presence at the scene of a crime does not prove the person is guilty," John said. "There is no evidence that the court finds that connects this defendant to the crime charged."

Assistant Solicitor Sanford Graves and Lewis left the courtroom after the rulings and declined comment.

Walsh died April 1, 2006, eight days after he was attacked in a wooded area outside the Myrtle Beach city limits while living in a homeless camp off U.S. 501. At the time of the incident, Harris was 16 and was tried as an adult. A 17-year-old, who was 14 at the time and also charged in the incident, pleaded guilty in 2006 to voluntary manslaughter, according to the solicitor's office. The younger teen was sentenced to be held in a juvenile detention facility at least two years and up to his 21st birthday.

The Sun News does not identify juveniles charged in a crime.

Harris, who remains jailed on an unrelated armed robbery charge, has been in custody since his initial arrest, and Axelrod said he will seek bond on that charge.

"The state's case depends entirely on circumstantial evidence," Axelrod said. "It's a shame in our court that people sit in jail for 3½ years. The court did the right thing in the case. Justice was served, our system works."

Members of Harris' family celebrated outside the courtroom and said they believed the teen when he said he wasn't involved in Walsh's death.

"I'm happy. We've been waiting for this for a long time," said Harris' sister Jamela Jolly after the ruling. "He's the type of person who would tell us, and he said he didn't do it."

Sequoyah Brown, also Harris' sister said: "My heart dropped. I knew he didn't do it. My grandma said he was going to walk, and he walked."

Joseph Jolly, Harris' brother, said he did not have words to describe what he was feeling knowing the murder charge against Harris was dismissed.

After the 13-woman and one-man jury, which included two alternates, were dismissed from the case, some of the jurors said they did not believe there was enough evidence to convict Harris beyond a reasonable doubt.

"They didn't prove it was him, but somebody did do it. We knew a crime was committed," said Courtney Cabbil, a juror. "There just wasn't enough evidence there to show it was him. They might have pointed the finger, but evidence-wise, it wasn't there against him."

The women said prosecutors hinged their case on Harris being identified by having a dreadlock-type hairstyle, but a woman who was with Walsh when he was attacked did not identify Harris as the attacker. She testified two boys attacked Walsh with empty beer bottles and a cinder block.

Juror Nicole Campbell said testimony by the younger teen's father that his son had similar hair to Harris at the time of the incident had cast doubt on Harris being the aggressor in the attack. "There were too many pieces that were not connected," Campbell said.

Doren Chaves, another juror, said she kept waiting for the "zinger" from prosecutors to show Harris was responsible for Walsh's death, but it never came.

"There was nothing from the state. There was no hard evidence," Chaves said. "When you're convicting someone of murder, there's got to be evidence. With the evidence we had, we hadn't seen it yet. I wish him the best of luck in life now. He's got to start over."

Frances Morris said she is concerned about how Harris will rebound after being jailed during his formative years and not being able to finish high school.

"I hope this will have an effect on his life," Morris said. "I hope he can change who he associates with and not get caught up in all this."

After John concluded Harris' trial, he questioned Graves and Lewis about why two photo lineups, a man's picture, letters written by Harris while jailed and photos of his body taken at the jail were not provided to Axelrod during the initial exchange of information in the case.

Graves told John he became aware of the evidence on Tuesday and "immediately" informed him and Axelrod. Neither the younger teen nor Harris were in the photo lineups, which were shown to a witness in the case, Graves said. The photos were tucked in a pocket of the case file and were found Tuesday, Graves said.

Lewis apologized to John for the mistake about not seeing the photos and then explained he had requested the jail letters and photos to aid in sentencing at the end of the trial because they contained information that was indicative of possible gang membership, he said.

"We do not expect this to happen again," John said before he found Lewis in contempt of court and ordered him to pay a $250 fine within the next seven days.

Horry County police Sgt. Robert Kegler said he could not comment on the incident.

Deputy Solicitor Fran Humphries said he expected such a decision because the photos were found during trial.

"It would be unfair to say it has never happened," Humphries said. "With the best detective, over the course of time in dealing with these types of complex cases, there exists the potential that a single document for whatever reason is not sent to us. That doesn't make it right. Police officers are people, not machines."

Humphries said he addressed the issue with Horry County police officials on Tuesday after the discovery of the information.

New Website Launches!

2009-07-07T13:33:00.000-07:00

Axelrod & Associates chooses Coalesce Communication+Design, a Myrtle Beach Marketing Company, to develop their new website. After extensive client meetings and planning the new site live. Feel free to browse through the site and contact us with your legal questions.