State Senator John Courson Enters Guilty Plea

COLUMBIA, SC (WOLO)– Suspended State Senator John Courson pleaded guilty Monday in a Richland County court. Courson entered the courtroom with his wife, and seemed to be in good spirits. After his attorney and Solicitor David Pascoe met, Courson signed the papers and pleaded guilty.
The 73-year-old’s corruption trial started Monday morning.

“He did the right thing today, and he needs to be commended for filing and accepting responsibility and resigning from office,” David Pascoe said, special prosecutor for the case.
Courson was facing misconduct charges, along with converting campaign money to his personal use, and criminal conspiracy, as part of a State House corruption investigation.  Courson entered a cooperation agreement and resigned from the Senate, which is a position he held for more than 3 decades. He pleaded guilty to misconduct in office. His cooperation with the state allows the criminal conspiracy and statutory misconduct charge be deferred until his cooperation is done, then those charges may be dismissed.

“What I did as far as reimbursing campaign expenses was not illegal, but the way, the process I did it, I should’ve done it differently. And I agree with that,” Courson said. Courson and his team said it was ‘improper filling’ which led to the charges. Courson said he wanted to save taxpayers money by avoiding a jury trial.

“He has been a champion of ethics his entire career, and he realized what he did was wrong, and he realized he filed those things incorrectly. And now he’s making it right,” Rose Mary Parham said, Courson’s attorney. 

Courson also said he believes the rules need to be clarified for how reimbursements for expenses on campaigns must be filed. His attorney says some discrepancies must be worked out.

“But I’m also very disappointed that I let my constituents down, by making an error in filing. And I apologize for that,” Courson said.

“The speaker of the house has resigned, two majority leaders have resigned, President pro-Tempore of the senate has resigned. So I think we’re cleaning up some of the corruption,” Pascoe said.  Pascoe said he hopes this allows for some closure, and now that Courson has resigned, Richland County can have a special election and get someone to fill his seat in the Senate, which has been vacant for more than a year.