Former Berkeley County special DUI prosecutor pleads guilty to unlawful conduct towards child

BERKELEY COUNTY, S.C. (WCBD) – A former special DUI prosecutor for the Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office accused of assaulting his children in October of 2021 pleaded guilty to three counts of unlawful conduct towards a child.

Justin Mims, who was hired as the first full-time special DUI prosecutor for the Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office in December 2020, was arrested by the Hanahan Police Department in October ’21 on several charges including attempted murder and neglect by a legal custodian.

Warrants revealed allegations that Mims threw one of his sons onto a bed and then held his face down, choking the child. An investigator who provided a statement during Mims’s initial bond hearing said the child was coughing and gasping for air after Mims released him from the hold.

Another incident revealed Mims slapped and struck his daughter several times on one occasion and threw her into a chair.

During a hearing inside a Berkeley County Courtroom on Thursday morning a judge presiding over the cases handed down a 10-year sentence against Mims but suspended it to only two years with credit for time served.

Mims will have three years of probation after serving the two years.