September 25, 2017
From Martha Rose Brown,
Committee to Abolish Sport Hunting blog
A federal judge ordered Orangeburg attorney Charles Williams to pay a fine of $30,000 after he pleaded guilty Monday afternoon to unlawfully killing hawks on his property.
U.S. District Court Judge Michelle Childs heard Williams’ guilty plea at the Matthew J. Perry Courthouse in Columbia.
Williams originally pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Shiva Hodges in June 2016, and she ordered him to pay a fine of $75,000, volunteer hours of service at the Birds of Prey Center in Awendaw and serve one year of probation, which prevented him from hunting.
Childs did not reinstate the hunting ban nor the community service.
Following the June 2016 sentencing, Williams and his co-defendants, Jimmie Aiken and John Dantzler, appealed, arguing that their case shouldn’t have been heard by a U.S. Magistrate, but rather a U.S. District judge.
Federal prosecutors said the 67-year-old trapped and killed hawks that preyed on quail he released at his 1,790-acre Willcreek property in Orangeburg County in late 2013.
Williams and the co-defendants were represented by attorneys Sen. Brad Hutto and Gedney Howe.