Court schedules hearing to discuss release of video

SPEAKING AT A BOND HEARING: During a bond hearing Thursday, Aiken County Solicitor J. Strom Thurmond, Jr. showed a map of the crime scene area where Master Public Safety officer Scotty Richardson and Officer Travis Griffin were shot on Dec. 27. Staff photo by Anna Dolianitis.

A circuit court judge has scheduled a hearing for March 1 to discuss the potential release of in-car videos under the Freedom of Information Act from the shootings of two officers on Dec. 20 for which Stephon Morrell Carter is charged with murder and attempted murder.

In a hearing Thursday in General Sessions court, Judge Doyet "Jack" Early granted a motion for a temporary restraining order against the Aiken County Solicitor's Office barring it from releasing police videos of the shooting of Master Public Safety Officer Scotty Richardson and Officer Travis Griffin during a traffic stop.

In response to the motion by Carter's defense attorney, Carl Grant, on Thursday, Solicitor J. Strom Thurmond Jr. asked the judge to extend the temporary restraining order to include the Aiken Department of Public Safety and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, who have all received FOIA requests from the media.

According to the order for a temporary restraining order filed by Early on Friday, the hearing on March 1 will be an opportunity for the parties involved to show cause as to why the temporary order should or should not become permanent.

Thurmond said on Thursday at a bond hearing that Carter waived his right to attend and that his office does not want to release the videos but planned to do so Thursday "under protest."

Early stated in the hearing Thursday the need to maintain a balance between the media's right to information under FOIA and ensuring a fair trial for both the defendant and the state.

"The release of the requested videos brings the threat of immediate and irreparable injury and/or loss to the defendant unless the release of the video is restrained," the order granting a temporary restraining order reads. "If this order is not issued, immediate and irreparable injury could result to the defendant because the defendant's right to a fair and impartial trial by a jury of his peers may be impeded or damaged."

The order states that one or more in-car video cameras in the Public Safety vehicles recorded portions of the traffic stop, the defendant firing at Richardson and Griffin and the defendant running from the scene.

"Even at the early stage in the proceedings where we now find ourselves, there is considerable public interest in this case. As such, without some restraint on the flow of information in the possession of the State, there is a substantial likelihood that the defendant may be denied a fair trial," the order reads.

The hearing is scheduled for March 1 at 10 a.m.

Carter is accused of shooting Richardson and Griffin following a traffic stop on Brandt Court in Aiken on Dec. 20.

Richardson died in the early morning hours of Dec. 21 at Georgia Health Sciences Medical Center from a gunshot wound to the head.

Officer Chris Lind shot Carter in the buttocks as he was running away after he allegedly shot the officers, Thurmond said in court Thursday.

Carter is currently being held at the Aiken County detention center and uses a colostomy bag as a result of his injuries, Grant said in court.

Early denied Grant's motion for bond Thursday and said that he finds Carter as both a flight risk and a danger to the community.

Anna Dolianitis is a reporter for the Aiken Standard. She covers the Department of Energy's Savannah River Site, as well as court and legal matters affecting Aiken County. She has been with the Aiken Standard since August 2010.