The Island Packet and The Republic, among over a dozen other news sites, reported that a councilman had pleaded guilty to criminal domestic violence, and, with his wife's urging, has agreed to submit to anger management counseling.
The defendant, Hilton Head Island Town Councilman, B.F., will not be facing jail time or the loss of the position he's held with the city since 1993.
Early this past January, B.F., 63, was arrested after an argument with his wife of 33 years, L.F. B.F. was charged with felony high and aggravated criminal domestic violence and pleaded guilty in Beaufort County Magistrate Court to a lesser charge – of misdemeanor criminal domestic violence, first offense.
A misdemeanor criminal domestic violence, first offense, carries a maximum sentence of 30 days in jail and a $5,000 fine. Under the plea agreement, made with the S.C. Attorney General's Office, both the sentence and fine were suspended.
Magistrate Nancy Sadler took note of the way in which B.F. entered his guilty plea as he stated along with it, "I am not guilty. I never hit, or whatever, my wife, and I have no choice in the matter."
Then B.F.'s attorney, William G. Jenkins, pulled him aside. Once the two were done with their discussion, when B.F. answered the Magistrate's question a second time, "Are you pleading guilty because you are guilty?" he simply replied, "Yes."
B.F. and L.F. have raised three grown children in the course of their three decades-long union. And, because they currently reside together and "wish to work things out", the assistant attorney general, Mardi Smith Fair, recommended a course of counseling instead of jail time.
L.F. agreed with Fair, stating that she also desired that her husband attend counseling and not be sent away to jail.
All of his firearms and ammunition, as a condition of his plea, have to be gotten rid of.
According to a county Magistrate Court administrator, L.F., employed as a teacher in a Bluffton elementary school, is also facing charges of misdemeanor criminal domestic violence in the same incident.
Police reports show that they were called to the couple's home on January 10 at approximately 9 p.m., because their son had called them to report that his father had a shotgun and his mother was in the home. Once L.F. was able to exit the home safely, B.F. also came out.
Mayor D.L. commented, "I think the whole thing got overblown. Is it a good thing (for a councilman to admit guilt to domestic violence)? No, obviously. But I'd rather talk about Coligny, Shelter Cove, Chaplin Linear Park and the rec center."
Fellow councilman G.W. Jr., stated, "To me, it's a personal issue, and that's how it should stay."
Town ordinances, per town attorney B.H., do not address the removal of council members from office. The attorney stated that he doesn't believe that a conviction for criminal domestic violence, under state law, is grounds for the councilman's removal either.
Have you been injured in an act of domestic violence? Whether seeking counseling or jail time for the person that injured you, contact a family law attorney for guidance.