Bookies In…. South Carolina: Brett Parker Thrusts State Into National Spotlight

Gambling911.com’s “Bookies In…” series has become a hugely popular read among bookmakers, agents, sports bettors and the curious alike. 

In the series we hone in on specific regions, dispense useful legal information in regard to state and sometimes local statutes, while at the same time providing a colorful history of said city, metropolitan area and/or county in terms of its bookie ties and roots.

For South Carolina, a state that does not even have horse tracks let alone casinos, all the talk in recent years has centered on a single individual…..Brett Parker.   

One time Irmo, South Carolina bookie Brett Parker, his dad Jack Parker and an associate Douglas E. Taylor were each sentenced to prison for illegal bookmaking in December 2013, just days before Christmas.   Brett had already been placed behind bars and was serving a life sentence, not for bookmaking, not for conspiracy and not for the usual charges levied against people of his ilk. 

Parker was serving time for the murder of his wife, Tammy Jo, and his business partner, Bryan Capnerhurst.

The case gained national attention after being featured on the NBC news magazine “Dateline”.  As if that weren't enough, the CBS News magazine program "48 Hours" soon followed suit (that one you can watch below).  The trial included details of the bloody murder, illegal bookmaking and illicit affairs.  The state argued that Parker had a massive gambling debt and killed his wife as a means of obtaining monies from a life insurance policy.  Parker shot his wife first, then waited on Capnerhurst to come to the home before killing him as well.  The defense argued the killing was a result of a robbery gone terribly wrong, asserting that Capnerhurst had intended to rob Parker.

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At the time, Parker was probably the biggest bookie in all of South Carolina.

“Interest in the Brett Parker Tammy Jo murder has not waned,” says Payton O’Brien, Senior Editor of the Gambling911.com website.  “The story regularly pops up again and again on networks devoted to crime and punishment like Investigation Discovery or reruns of the “Dateline” segment.  We have been covering the story for years and our own regular readers remain fascinated.”

A year ago, CBS News asked: “Did Brett Parker Stand His Ground” when he shot his wife and Capnerhurst?

With 33 states that have some version of a "Stand your Ground" self-defense law on the books, that controversial question has come up in high-profile murder cases across the country. In South Carolina, it arose as police questioned Brett Parker in the shooting deaths of his wife Tammy and his business associate Bryan Capnerhurst.

Parker told police he shot Capnerhurst after the man snapped over a debt he was owed, demanding cash and fatally shooting Tammy during the botched robbery. Was Parker merely "standing his ground," or had he killed both Tammy and Capnerhurst, framing Capnerhurst as the assailant?

Parker claims he was met by Capnerhurst, who wielding a gun, and saw his wife collapsed. 

Attorneys for Parker could have opted to use the “Stand Your Ground” defense if not for one of the provisions that require an individual to “not engage in unlawful activity”.

Parker was, as we all know by now, a bookie, illegal in the state of South Carolina.

Legalizing Sports Betting in the Palmetto State?

The South Carolina Code of Laws, section 16-19-130, clearly outlaws “betting, pool selling or bookmaking” and prohibits recording or taking bets on any “contest of skill, speed or power of endurance of man or beast.”

It’s interesting to note that the state is one of a handful looking to legalize sports betting, though we doubt the corner bookie will be receiving any immunity should such a law pass. 

In January, Democratic S.C. House Minority Leader Todd Rutherford sponsored a joint resolution in an effort to amend the state’s constitution to legalize gambling, including “pari-mutuel betting on horse racing, sports betting on professional sports, casino activities, such as card and dice games where the skill of the player is involved in the outcome, and games of chance with the use of electronic devices or gaming tables.”

Voters would ultimately be called upon to decide.

“I would rather come up with a new revenue source to pay for the roads than raise taxes to do so,” says Rutherford, a Columbia attorney. “The House just passed a plan to raise $400 million. I hope we can turn that into an $800 million plan. But that is all new tax revenue. As opposed to letting sports betting go on in South Carolina and having casino gaming in South Carolina and allowing Myrtle Beach to have luxury casinos and allow sports betting to make up for the deficit we currently have to fix our roads.”

“I wouldn’t participate in it, because I don’t bet,” Rutherford says. “And that’s what I’ve told the people who are against it. You don’t have to do it. It’s not a mandate. Right now we already have gambling in South Carolina. It’s just run by the state and it’s called the lottery. Otherwise [the amendment] would allow people to bet on games and do it legally, because they do it now anyway.”

When asked if he ever hears people openly discussing sports betting lines, Rutherford laughs and says, “I hear it all the time.”

- Alejandro Botticelli, Gambling911.com