South Carolina case headed to the Supreme Court

February 2, 2011

WALHALLA, South Carolina: A case tried in the South Carolina Family Courts has been appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States and is scheduled to begin oral arguments on March 23, 2011.

Turner vs. Rogers stems from a sentencing ruling made by Family Court judge and potential federal court nominee Timothy M. Cain in 2008. Cain sentenced Michael D. Turner to one year in jail on a contempt of court charge for failing to make child support payments. At the time of the ruling, Turner had not made a court-ordered child support payment in 18 months and owed more than $5,700. The terms of the sentence were such that he would be released from jail by making the payments.

Turner appeared in court without representation and it is his right to appointed counsel that is under question in the appeal. The South Carolina Supreme Court upheld Cain's ruling of contempt of court in 2010, while acknowledging that the question of right to counsel is unsettled.

Staff attorney for the ACLU South Carolina Office Susan K. Dunn had this to say regarding the case: "Every day in South Carolina, poor defendants like Michael Turner are forced to represent themselves in Family Court on pain of imprisonment".