Supreme Court denies request to hear Zachary Hammond petition

The state Supreme Court denied a request by the family of a teenager who was shot and killed by a Seneca police officer to hear arguments that the solicitor on the case is compromised by a conflict of interest.

The court issued an order stating that “a citizen lacks standing to contest the decision by the prosecuting authority whether to prosecute another when the citizen is neither prosecuted nor threatened with prosecution.”

Eric Bland, an attorney for the family of 19-year-old Zachary Hammond, had asked the high court to turn over the decision on whether the officer who shot Hammond should be prosecuted to the state Attorney General.

“The family is very disappointed that the Supreme Court did not agree to take on this most important matter and seemed to have punted on it,” Bland said.

The family had hoped the court would set a precedent that would take decisions about possible criminal actions of law enforcement officers out of the hands of prosecutors who work with those agencies on a routine basis.

Hammond was shot and killed in the parking lot of a Hardee’s restaurant in July by Seneca Police Lt. Mark Tiller during an attempted marijuana sting targeting a passenger in Hammond’s car.

Tiller fired two shots through the open driver’s side window because he thought Hammond was going to run over him, according to Seneca Police Chief John Covington.

An independent autopsy done for Hammond’s family found that the bullets entered from his side, back to front, which their attorney argues indicates he couldn’t have been in the path of the car if it was moving.

A dashboard camera in Tiller’s vehicle captured the incident, but it has been in SLED’s hands since that night and has been turned over to 10th Circuit Solicitor Chrissy Adams.

The Greenville News and two other newspapers have filed a lawsuit seeking the video and other information on the case.

In their order denying the petition by Hammond's parents, the five Supreme Court Justices unanimously said the family lacked legal standing to challenge the actions of Adams and South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson.

Intervention by the court in any decisions made by Adams or Wilson would violate the separation of powers clause, the justices ruled.

Citing a U.S. Supreme Court notation in another case, the justices said a prosecutor exercises "considerable discretion" in determining who should be targets of an investigation, which methods of investigation should be used, who should be charged, who should be witnesses and whether anyone should be granted immunity.

Those decisions are all made outside the court's supervision, the justices said, citing the U.S. Supreme Court notation.

Wilson said in a court filing the Hammonds' petition "would not only represent an intrusion by the judicial branch into a criminal investigation, but would constitute an interference with the prosecutorial authority of the circuit solicitor, as well as that of the attorney general," who is the state's chief prosecuting officer.

The Hammonds had sued Tiller, Covington and the city of Seneca Police Department in federal court alleging Tiller used excessive force in killing the teenager and Seneca police were negligent in hiring, training and supervising the department's officers. The suit seeks unspecified damages.

In a court filing, Covington and the city denied the allegations.