U.S. Attorney Bill Nettles is stepping down as South Carolina’s top federal prosecutor on the eve of two landmark trials, ending a lengthy — and unlikely — six-year run marked by an emphasis on finding justice without leaning on mass incarceration.
Nettles, 54, announced his resignation Wednesday, saying he intends to return to private practice as a criminal-defense lawyer and civil litigator. His final act will be addressing a drug court in Charleston in the afternoon.
His decision comes just months before federal prosecutors are scheduled to go to trial in two high-profile, racially charged civil-rights cases from last year: the mass shooting of nine black worshippers at Emanuel AME church by a white supremacist and Walter Scott’s killing by a white North Charleston police officer.
Nettles said his decision was unrelated to either case and wasn’t influenced by U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch’s recent decision to seek the ultimate punishment against admitted church shooter Dylann Roof. Nettles doesn’t support the death penalty and fought as a criminal defense attorney to keep people off Death Row.
Charleston defense attorney Andy Savage, who represents survivors and relatives of those killed in the Emanuel shooting, said Nettles took a personal interest in the case, visited all of the families involved and showed great empathy for their loss. He said the death penalty decision was a difficult time for him.
“I know the decision in the Roof case was very taxing for him because of the conflict between his personal beliefs and his responsibilities under the law,” he said.
Nettles said he knew when he accepted the job that he might be called upon to seek the death penalty against a defendant.
“I believe (former U.S. Attorney General) Eric Holder said it best: I don’t think the death penalty is a good idea but while I am in this job I have to follow the law,” he said. “If I can’t follow the law, then I have to go. But that’s not why I decided to leave.”
Nettles said he has been planning his exit for some time, having accomplished much of what he set out to do. He noted that he had already served about twice as long as most U.S. attorneys and had held the South Carolina post longer than anyone since the 1960s.
A longtime surfer, he compared his decision to standing in the calf-deep waters, watching the breakers for the perfect set of waves to come along.
“If you stand there and look at it long enough, you realize at some point you just have to jump in and start paddling,” he said. “And it’s just time for me to jump in and start paddling.”
S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson worked closely with Nettles on the misuse of campaign funds case that brought down former House Speaker Bobby Harrell in 2014. He said Nettles never tried to bigfoot his state counterparts and always worked in a cooperative spirit that bridged political ideologies and served South Carolina well.
“He’s really a true public servant who wants to do the right thing,” Wilson said.
President Barack Obama’s selection of Nettles for the post in early 2010 was something of a departure for the office. He’d been an early supporter of Obama, who scored a key victory in South Carolina’s 2008 Democratic primary, and Nettles had also provided legal advice to the campaign. But his background was atypical for the job — and not just because he was a left-leaning Democrat in a solidly red state.
U.S. attorneys often hail from the ranks of federal or state prosecutors who stay for a couple of years and then use the post as a stepping stone to bigger things. Nettles came from the other side of the aisle, serving as Richland County’s public defender before going into a private practice as a defense attorney.
Nettles said he saw an opportunity to bring a different perspective to the job, to try some new things. He preferred hiring attorneys who’d had actual clients during their careers to avoid a “one-dimensional” sense of justice. He added LGBT and religious sensitivity sessions to ongoing training his office provided to law enforcement officials to expand their viewpoints as well.
Nettles didn’t shy away from locking up violent bad guys, but he also looked for ways to steer lower-level offenders onto a more productive path in life. He got behind drug courts and other initiatives that offered people a way out of going to prison if they cleaned up and stayed out of trouble.
“I don’t view it as our job to put people in prison,” he said. “I viewed it as our job to make South Carolina a better place.”
As Nettles sees it, his main accomplishments include:
An expanded emphasis on white-collar public corruption cases. He added prosecutors in Charleston, Greenville and Columbia to tackle these cases, including the high-profile kickback and corruption scheme at South Carolina State University that landed the school’s former board chairman in prison.
A renewed focus on rehabilitation for offenders, including the Project Stand partnership with North Charleston police that aimed to steer drug dealers away from a life of crime through employment assistance, education, counseling and other help. Half of the eight participants made it through the program, which earned national accolades and was replicated in other areas, including Aiken and Conway.
A push to bring whistleblower cases to trial and crack down on companies that attempt to defraud the government. In March, a case that started with a South Carolina whistleblower ended with a Pennsylvania medical supply company agreeing to pay $34.8 million in fines to resolve kickback allegations. Overall, Nettles said his office is on track to recover more than $200 million this year.
Lawyer Bart Daniel, a former U.S. Attorney under President George H.W. Bush, said Nettles work in the false claims area has earned him a national reputation and has placed his office among the top performers in the country. “He has really done an extraordinary job,” he said.
U.S. Rep. Trey Gowdy is a former South Carolina prosecutor who met Nettles while trying a death penalty case against him in the mid-2000s. The Republican lawmaker said Nettles leaves behind a solid legacy, and he’s encouraged him to pursue a federal judgeship. But Nettles seems ready to return to private practice, he said.
“I’m a little surprised he stayed as long as he has given the options that awaited him,” Gowdy said.
Nettles said he been laying the foundation for his departure for awhile but felt compelled to wait until Lynch made a decision about pursuing the death penalty for Roof. He said he felt he had an important point of view to offer and was pleased that Lynch gave him a lengthy audience on two occasions to discuss Roof’s fate. He would not say what he thought of her final decision.
“No one ever got anywhere by criticizing their boss,” he said. “I respect Attorney General Lynch, and I respect her decision.”
Reach Glenn Smith at 843-937-5556.