Top public defender for 14th Circuit arrested on DUI charge

The public defender who oversees the 14th Judicial Circuit, which includes Beaufort County, was arrested Tuesday night on a charge of driving under the influence, according to the Beaufort County Detention Center log.

Gene Hood, 65, of Beaufort, was arrested in northern Beaufort County and was taken to the detention center just after 8 p.m., Capt. Allen Horton of the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office said.

Hood oversees public defenders in the 14th Circuit, which covers Beaufort, Jasper, Hampton, Colleton and Allendale counties.

He faces charges of DUI and transportation in a motor vehicle, an alcoholic beverage control violation,and was released on his own recognizance Wednesday morning, according to the jail log.

Hood could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Details of the arrest were not available Wednesday, Veterans Day, a county holiday. Sheriff P.J. Tanner did not return several calls seeking comment.

Hood will appear in Beaufort County Magistrate Court. His court date could not be determined Wednesday.

The S.C. Commission on Indigent Defense appointed Hood to the postin August 2008. He had served as a public defender in Beaufort County prior to that appointment. A commission spokesman could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Trasi Campbell, the chief public defender for Beaufort County, also could not be reached for comment.

Beaufort County Administrator Gary Kubic said Wednesday the public defender's office operates independently, though it receives money from the county.

In the current fiscal year, the county gave theoffice $653,363 from the general fund in monthly allocations of $54,447, according to an e-mail Wednesday from David Starkey, chief financial officer for the county finance department.