Biden names US magistrate in Greenville to federal judgeship
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A federal magistrate in Greenville has been nominated by President Joe Biden to become a judge for the U.S. District Court in South Carolina.
Judge Jacquelyn D. Austin was appointed to an eight-year term as a United States magistrate judge for the District of South Carolina in 2011 and reappointed in 2019.
She has been involved in several high-profile cases including denying requests to reduce bond for a man accused of supplying firearms to serial killer Todd Kohlhepp. Kohlhepp is serving seven life sentences plus 60 years in prison for killing seven people and kidnapping and sexually assaulting an Anderson woman found on his property in Woodruff.
The arms dealer, Dustan Lawson, ultimately pleaded guilty to all 36 charges.
Austin also ruled in a 2019 civil case that there was reasonable video evidence a Greenville County Sheriff’s deputy slammed a police car door into a handcuffed man’s head, allowing the case to continue. A jury earlier this year sided for the deputy, who said he did not intend to close the door on the suspect.
Austin, a native of Sumter, previously was a partner in Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, where she went to work as associate in 1999 and was named a partner in 2006.
She worked as an associate at Hardaway Law Firm from 1997 to 1999 and as a law clerk for Judge Matthew J. Perry, Jr. on the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina from 1996 to 1997.
She earned an electrical engineering degree from the University of South Carolina and worked in regulatory licensing at the South Carolina Electric & Gas Co. nuclear power plant in Jenkinsville.
Austin received her J.D. from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 1996.
Biden also nominated Judge Julie S. Sneed to the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida.
In a news release, the White House said they are the latest judges added to the historic number of Black women nominated to the federal bench by Biden.
To date, 32 Black women appointed by Biden have been confirmed by the Senate to lifetime judgeships.
