Former Charleston City Council member Kwadjo Campbell received a pardon today from the state for a variety of crimes dating as far back as 1993.
The move came after several area figures spoke on his behalf, including state Rep. Wendell Gilliard, d-Charleston, and local attorney Dwayne Green. His wife addressed the panel as well.
“My priorities are in order now, and before, they weren’t,” Campbell told The Post and Courier today.
Campbell, 40, served eight years on council where he was a longtime critic of Mayor Joe Riley and his administration. But his time on council also was clouded by a couple of legal run-ins.
In 2007 he was ordered to pay fines, restitution and court costs for campaign ethics violations, and a single marijuana possession charge. The marijuana charge stemmed from a Charleston arrest in 2005 after police found a marijuana cigar in a car he was using.
Campbell now lives in Greenville. He said he’s completed getting an education degree at Clemson University and hopes to teach at the classroom level and run his consulting business.
By definition, a pardon in South Carolina is considered an executive act of “grace or clemency” releasing an offender from most legal consequences of a criminal conviction. It does not erase or expunge any record that a crime or conviction occurred.
Pete O’Boyle, spokesman for the state Probation, Parole and Pardon Services Board, confirmed the pardon was granted.
Campbell’s pardon request covers a variety of scrapes with the law, starting with a simple assault conviction in 1993.
Source: Former Charleston City Councilman Kwadjo Campbell Receives Pardon – Post and Courier
