LATTA, S.C. — South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster has suspended a Town of Latta councilman after the councilman was indicted for domestic abuse.
According to McMaster's executive order, Steven Bradley Coward has been suspended from office after being "indicted by a grand jury for a crime involving moral turpitude." South Carolina state law allows the governor to suspend a person from public office until they have been acquitted.
Coward will remain suspended from office "until such a time as he is formally acquitted, convicted, or until a successor is elected and qualifies as provided by law, whichever event occurs first."
On May 25, a grand jury in Dillon County returned an indictment against Coward, charging him with domestic violence in the second degree.