Retha Pierce waits in magistrate's court Wednesday afternoon for a judge to set her bond.
Atlantic Beach Mayor Retha Pierce was supposed to stand trial Thursday morning on a resisting arrest charge, but when Pierce complained of severe chest pains, and after her lawyer said Pierce couldn't receive a fair trial in Horry County, the case was postponed and moved to Georgetown County. Pierce meanwhile was taken to a local hospital for the chest pains, her lawyer said.
"I do not think they (potential jurors) can get out of their minds what has happened to this lady and all of these events. You don't know what these people might think of her," Pierce's attorney, Irby Walker, told reporters.
The unfair pre-trial publicity Walker mentioned includes a resisting arrest charge during a traffic stop in December 2007. Dashboard video of the stop shows Pierce telling the officer "I'm the mayor of Atlantic Beach." The officer tells Pierce he didn't care who she was and that she needed to cooperate. The officer said she didn't, so she was pushed against the police cruiser and arrested. The incident was widely published in the media.
"Who wouldn't be embarassed by it? That video. Not because I believe she did anything wrong -- it's just the nature of it. The woman was requesting to go to the bathroom and then getting slammed against a police cruiser," Walker said.
The other recent event came Wednesday when Pierce was again arrested for trespassing and disorderly conduct at Atlantic Beach Town Hall, according to Atlantic Beach Police Chief Randy Rizzo.
"I mean yesterday, for example, the woman goes into Atlantic Beach town hall to try to get an office, and they arrest her. That's ridiculous," Walker said.
Rizzo said Pierce got into an argument with interim town manager Kenneth McIver and a town clerk after demanding to have an office in town hall, something no previous Atlantic Beach mayor has had.
Walker presented his arguments to Judge Margie Livingston Thursday morning, and despite resistance from the prosecution, Walker persuaded the judge to continue the trial and to move it to Georgetown County. Thursday's case has not yet been rescheduled, but Pierce is expected in court on March 10 for Wednesday's charges.
Pierce was recently elected Mayor in December after three elections since November 2007. The first two elections were challenged, and court battles ensued. The drama that unfolded during the process sharply divided much of the town, and Pierce and her attorney say that's the problem.
"The lady is a good Christian woman. She wants to reform Atlantic Beach, and she's meeting intense resistance by just a very, very few people up there, and it bothers her."
