‘Honor of my life was helping the poor’: York Public Defender Harry Dest retires
Almost every case among thousands for York County Public Defender Harry Dest over the past three decades was different. Murder or mayhem, guns or knives, injuries or death, the crimes varied.
The one constant was the client was poor. Courtrooms use the term indigent to describe the client. Real people like Harry Dest say it like this: “Poor.”
All that is ending. Dest is retiring from public service. The end is bittersweet.
“It has been the honor of my life defending the poor, the outcast, the vulnerable,” Dest said. “A lawyer, a good lawyer, is the bedrock of American justice. The Sixth Amendment. The right to counsel. The right to a lawyer. It’s a right of every American. I helped make sure that right was honored.”
Even when the client appeared to be indefensible, Dest fought for the system to work. His aim was to protect the client’s rights while working toward justice.
He was the lawyer for Christian McCall, the York man who fatally shot York County Sheriff’s Office deputy Mike Doty and wounded three other officers in January 2018. McCall pleaded guilty and received life in prison.
Dest negotiated McCall’s plea deal for life in prison without parole while waiving any appeals associated with a death penalty. The plea kept the victims of the crimes and their families from potentially dealing with decades of court appeals.
Dest gained national stature in 2003 when his client, Janice Smith of York County, shot and killed her father after decades of physical abuse. Smith faced murder charges, but Dest showed the history of abuse in court. Janice Smith served 21 months in prison after pleading guilty to manslaughter.
Dest’s success in handling the Janice Smith case was featured nationally on the Larry King Live and the Oprah Winfrey shows.
In 2014 Dest represented Jeremy Moody, a white supremacist who killed a couple. He was sentenced to life in prison.
In 2016, client John Coddington of Fort Mill was sentenced to 45 years in prison after pleading guilty to killing his girlfriend then burning her body in a barrel. Dest worked for months to seek a sentence that was less than life in prison.
In September 2019, Dest negotiated a 23-year sentence for Bruce Williams of Rock Hill. Williams pleaded guilty to homicide by child abuse after the beating death of Williams’ son.
He also had notable not guilty verdicts in other homicide cases after Dest showed juries that the defendant was acting in self-defense after beatings or abuse or threats.
“Every accused person has the right to the best defense,” Dest said. “That’s the job. Period.”
Dest started in the office in 1990 when the public defender had two lawyers. Now there is a full staff of attorneys, with support staff -- approximately 20 people. He’s turned the public defender into an efficient office that handles a caseload of as much as 80 percent of York County’s criminal cases.
“We built a great staff and earned a reputation as among the best public defender offices anywhere in South Carolina and the country,” Dest said. “It was always a team effort.”
Dest fought for decades to get funding for public defenders that would put them on par with prosecutors. He also helped set up a statewide public defender system that now is the law in South Carolina. Dest has been 16th Circuit Public defender for York County and nearby Union County since that statewide system took effect in 2007.
Dest has never shied away from talking about issues that cause crime or affect the justice system. Dest has long been an advocate of finding ways to keep guns and illegal drugs out of the hands of young people. He’s publicly spoken out against sentencing laws that he believes can be too harsh.
In 2018, Dest was a leader among York County defense lawyers who claimed prosecutors were handling too many grand jury cases in too short a time period.
Dest has received several awards in the past weeks as he readies to leave a public life of service. South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster awarded him the S.C. Order of the Silver Crescent for community service. State officials gave him a lifetime award for dedication to the poor who were accused of crimes.
S.C. Rep. Tommy Pope, R-York, was the top prosecutor for York County for almost two decades. He and Dest were on opposite sides of hundreds of cases. But both were on the side of fairness and justice, Pope said.
“Harry and I did battle in the courtroom for years,” Pope said. “He was a worthy adversary. He fought hard but he fought fairly. That’s why I have always respected Harry Dest: He represented his clients with integrity.”
B.J. Barrowclough, deputy public defender for almost two decades, has been selected by the S.C. Commission on Indigent Defense to take over the top slot.
Dest, 58, said he is ready for a new challenge.
He and his lawyer wife, Ouida, are opening up the Dest Law firm in downtown Rock Hill at 115 Elk Avenue. Ouida Dest was the top juvenile prosecutor for York County’s 16th Circuit Solicitor’s Office for the past two decades before retiring this month.
In that new office, Harry Dest will still be a defense lawyer.
“With my experience I can help people,” Dest said. “I still love being a trial lawyer.”
This story was originally published December 30, 2019 at 12:06 PM.
