Quinn Sr. gets 18 months' home detention in corruption case

COLUMBIA (AP) - Richard Quinn Sr., a longtime political consultant to a number of high-profile Republicans in South Carolina, has pleaded guilty to lying to a grand jury and been sentenced to 18 months of home detention.

Quinn entered an Alford plea to four counts of perjury and two counts of obstruction of justice on Wednesday in a Richland County courtroom, The State newspaper reported.

In an Alford plea, a defendant maintains their innocence but agrees there is enough evidence that they would be found guilty at trial. It is treated the same as a regular guilty plea for sentencing purposes.

Quinn has been at the center of a probe into corruption at the South Carolina Statehouse for eight years. Prosecutors said his political consulting firm was paid illegal fees from individual and corporate lobbyists and also paid lawmakers illegal salaries to influence legislation.

In 2017, Quinn reached an agreement with Solicitor David Pascoe that he would not be prosecuted for those charges if his firm pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and he testified truthfully before the grand jury investigating Statehouse corruption.

Prosecutors said Quinn then lied or misled the grand jury about work he did for clients like state Attorney General Alan Wilson and payments he gave lawmakers.

Quinn can serve his 18-month sentence at home. Judge Carmen Mullen agreed he can leave the house to go to his office, to church, to see his doctors and lawyers or for special events with his grandchildren.

Spending time with those grandchildren and declining health led Quinn, 78, to agree to the plea even though he maintains his innocence, according to his lawyer.

"He's lost his business. He's lost friends," attorney Cindy Crick said. "He's almost 80. He just wants to be done with this."

Quinn will have to complete two years of probation after his home detention is over.

The corruption probe began in 2014 as an investigation into ex-House Speaker Bobby Harrell, who pleaded guilty to spending campaign money on personal expenses. He was sentenced to probation.

Quinn's son and onetime state Rep. Richard Quinn Jr. also pleaded guilty and received probation for taking $4 million from lobbyists and doing their bidding for the Quinns' consulting business.

The Statehouse corruption probe isn't finished. Former state Sen. John Courson pleaded guilty in 2018 to taking $159,000 from Richard Quinn Sr.'s firm and is awaiting sentencing.

Former state Rep. Tracy Edge is awaiting trial for charges from the probe.

Former state Rep. Jim Harrison was sent to prison for 18 months for lying during the investigation, while ex-Rep. Jim Merrill was sentenced to probation.

All are Republicans.

The grand jury released a 270-page report detailing the often-blurry line between political consultants, lobbyists and powerful businesses and state agencies in South Carolina. Major hospital company Palmetto Health, AT&T, the University of South Carolina, utility SCANA and a trial lawyers association called the South Carolina Association for Justice paid more than $350,000 in fines for using the Quinns' firm to lobby on their behalf without disclosing it publicly.

Officials struggled to tell the grand jury about any tangible work the Quinns did to earn thousands of dollars a month, according to the report.

But they did describe meetings in the father's office where lawmakers, including the son, would stop by unannounced. Lobbyists in South Carolina typically go to see lawmakers, not the other way around.

Emails showed Quinn could put pressure on lawmakers who relied on him for political advice, getting one to back off after SCANA banned employees from displaying the Confederate flag on its equipment, another to change his mind on a hospital issue and a third to "lose with dignity" over a telecommunications bill, the report said.