Associated Press | September 19 2005

One of South Carolina's most famous defense attorneys has signed on to help the defense in the case of a 75-year-old woman stunned with a Taser gun by a Rock Hill police officer.

Jack Swerling said he has been interested in the case of Margaret Kimbrell ever since reading about the incident last October.

"Hitting an elderly lady with a Taser gun, why anybody would go to those lengths, I don't know," Swerling said. "Plus, I like the lady."

Kimbrell, who has turned 76 since the incident, was charged with trespassing and resisting police after officers said she refused to leave a Rock Hill assisted living center after being asked to leave.

Officer Hattie Jean Macon said she used her stun gun after Kimbrell either swung her arm or her purse at her.

Macon received a verbal warning from her supervisor and was required to attend a Taser retraining course.

Swerling will join attorney Chris Wellborn, a former president of the South Carolina Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.

Swerling has defended some of the state's most notorious criminals over his 30-year career like serial killers Pee Wee Gaskins and Larry Gene Bell. He is known for his aggressive cross-examinations.

Kimbrell's trial is set for November, but the case has been delayed several times because the defense and city lawyers disagree over what internal police records the city must release to Kimbrell's lawyers, Rock Hill prosecutor Chris Barton said.

One of Swerling's peers said he would only take a case like this in municipal court because it has far-reaching consequences.

In this case, volatile and political issues about when police are justified to use a certain level of force could have implications in future criminal and civil courts, Rock Hill defense lawyer Tom McKinney said.

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