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South Carolina Poker Players to Appeal Guilty Verdict
Mon, Mar 2nd, 2009 @ 12:00am
The five South Carolina poker players found guilty of illegal gambling last month are appealing their convictions, and also hope to challenge the 200 year old law that makes it illegal to play Texas Hold'em in their state (along with dice and other card games).
Jeremy Brestel, Bob Chimento, Scott Richards, Michael Williamson and John Taylor Willis chose to go to trial rather than plead guilty and pay a fine like some others amongst the two-dozen people cited when police raided a home on Glencoe Street, Mt. Pleasant during April 2006.
The game had been advertised via an Internet meet-up site that attracted poker players from all over the Lowcountry. Players paid a $20 buy-in to join the game and a percentage of the proceeds went to the house.
Prior to the final verdict on Feb. 19, South Carolina Municipal Court Judge J. Lawrence Duffy announced that he was convinced poker is a game of skill after hearing testimony from experts, including testimony by World Poker Tour co-host and professional poker player Mike Sexton.
Despite the historic statement that poker is a game of skill (joining similar recent Colorado and Pennslvania proclamations), Duffy found the five players guilty of illegal gambling. He ordered them to pay the applicable fines for their misdemeanor tickets, which range to $262.
Wait- Think of it: if poker is a skill game (and therefore not gambling under SC law) how could the defendants be operating or participating in a house of gambling?
The players' attorney, Jeff Phillips of Greenville, said he hopes that the appeal will highlight such ambiguities around the state law covering card play.
A hearing date could be scheduled for this spring, according to South Carolina's The Post and Courier.
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