Victim: Attorney ‘leveraged’ ex’s domestic violence charge against him in SC divorce case

Jody Barr
·4 min read
Victim: Attorney ‘leveraged’ ex’s domestic violence charge against him in SC divorce case

MARLBORO COUNTY, SC (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — If it had happened only once, Shane Crowley might have bought an argument that prosecutors made a mistake in doing away with his estranged wife’s domestic violence case without telling him, the victim, about it.

That first dismissal happened in August 2022. Crowley questioned the solicitor’s office about it and Fourth Circuit Will Rogers restored the charge the following month.

Shane Crowley shows photographs of injuries after he said his estranged wife attacked him alongside a Marlboro County highway in July 2021. Crowley says his attorney and his estranged wife’s attorney used the criminal charge as ‘leverage’ against him in the divorce settlement. (WJZY Photo/Jody Barr)
Shane Crowley shows photographs of injuries after he said his estranged wife attacked him alongside a Marlboro County highway in July 2021. Crowley says his attorney and his estranged wife’s attorney used the criminal charge as ‘leverage’ against him in the divorce settlement. (WJZY Photo/Jody Barr)

But when Solicitor Will Rogers’ office dismissed the domestic violence case against Sarah Jordon Crowley a second time in January 2024, Crowley said he believed the prosecutor’s office intended to hide their plans to drop the charge against his estranged wife from him.

Marlboro County court records list Shane Crowley as the victim in the July 2021 domestic violence prosecution of Jordon Crowley. Deputies charged Jordon Crowley after a sheriff’s office incident report stated she punched her estranged husband in the face and “tried to get” a pistol Shane Crowley kept in his driver’s side door. The deputy reported that Mr. Crowley tried to call 911 for help when Mrs. Crowley “continued to strike him and knock [sic] his phone out of his hand.”

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The couple’s six and eight-year-old children were in the back of Shane Crowley’s truck during the assault, along with Jordon Crowley’s 16-year-old son, according to the incident report. The report also contains a statement from Mr. Crowley that he and Mrs. Crowley separated just two days before the assault.

This line is from the mediated agreement in the Crowley divorce case file we obtained from the Marlboro County Clerk’s Office. Shane Crowley said he never contacted the solicitor’s office and never intended to not cooperate with the prosecutor in the domestic violence charge against his estranged wife. (Source: Marlboro County Clerk of Court)
This line is from the mediated agreement in the Crowley divorce case file we obtained from the Marlboro County Clerk’s Office. Shane Crowley said he never contacted the solicitor’s office and never intended to not cooperate with the prosecutor in the domestic violence charge against his estranged wife. (Source: Marlboro County Clerk of Court)

The deputy reported seeing evidence of injuries to Shane Crowley’s face on scene that night and “With the evidence that deputies obtained and the injuries that were visible,” on Mr. Crowley, Marlboro County sheriff’s deputies arrested Mrs. Crowley and took her to the county jail.

Over the next year, the Crowleys were mired in a contentious divorce. In August 2022, the pair – including their attorneys – met to mediate a divorce settlement. The settlement included joint custody of the pair’s young sons with the agreement awarding Shane Crowley primary custody.

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The settlement agreement also included a provision titled, ‘Non-Cooperation,’ which required Shane Crowley to not help the Fourth Circuit Solicitor’s Office with the prosecution of his estranged wife in the domestic violence case. Crowley said he was “forced” into signing the agreement after he said his attorney told him he’d owe his estranged wife $25,000 and could risk losing custody of his sons, including to foster care if he didn’t sign the mediated agreement.

Crowley said he signed the agreement that day to retain custody of his sons but went home to research whether attorneys could ‘leverage’ a criminal case against a victim under a ‘Non-Cooperation’ provision.

During a visit to the Marlboro County Clerk’s Office on Oct. 11, 2022, we found Fourth Circuit Assistant Solicitor Elizabeth Munnerlyn’s signature on the front of the domestic violence indictment against Sarah Jordon Crowley. The signature and “nol pros,” which is shorthand for Nolle prosequi, a Latin phrase meaning the prosecutor no longer plans to prosecute a case. (WJZY Photo/Jody Barr)

Crowley contacted his attorney to ask to have the agreement nullified.

The next day, Mrs. Crowley’s attorney contacted the solicitor’s office to have the charge dismissed. Court records show the charge was thrown out with the stroke of a solicitor’s ink pen. But the solicitor’s office never told Shane Crowley what happened.

S.C. law requires prosecutors to notify crime victims of court dates and resolution of criminal cases. That notification never happened in this case.

Not once, but twice.

Watch our complete ‘Dismissed’ report in the video box above.

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