Magistrate Reprimanded for Using Racial Slur, Seeking to Record Sexual Encounter

A former South Carolina magistrate has been publicly reprimanded based on findings he used a racial slur and sought to videotape a law clerk in a sexual encounter.

The South Carolina Supreme Court said former magistrate Larry Hutchins of Spartanburg cannot seek any judicial post without express permission of the court, the Greenville News reports.

The court’s May 12 opinion (PDF) said the evidence supported two findings of misconduct. In one incident, Hutchins offered to videotape a sexual encounter to use against a rival magistrate, the court said. In another, Hutchins had complained that one of the clerks was dating black men, using a racial slur to describe them. The clerk supervisor who reported the statement said Hutchins had told her there was "no telling what we might catch using the same bathroom" as the dating law clerk.

Hutchins has denied the allegations. Hutchins’ lawyer, C. Rauch Wise, said he disagreed with the findings. "Testimony of the witnesses was very contradictory over facts that we thought, if they were telling the truth, they should not be confused on," he told the Greenville News.

The Legal Profession Blog also covered the ruling.