NEWBERRY — The best hope of finding out what happened to entertainer James Brown’s “I Feel Good” education charity is a claims trial scheduled for Sept. 5 in Aiken County, but that hope has been jeopardized by an Aug. 4 motion to stop Gov. Henry McMaster and Attorney General Alan Wilson from testifying under oath.

The question of why Brown’s charity has not distributed one dime to the first needy student in the 10 years since his death has been the subject of national press attention in publications such as the New York Times and in “Kill ‘Em and Leave,” a book by National Book Award winner James McBride.

The Sept. 5 claims trial involving former Brown trustee Adele Pope of Newberry could provide answers. Court filings have already revealed much about missing millions, the state takeover of the Brown estate, contradictions of will contestants’ claims, and the gross undervaluation of Brown’s music empire at only $4.7 million.

In the Aug. 4 motion, however, the current trustee of the Brown estate, Columbia CPA Russell Bauknight, seeks to exclude testimony from nine witnesses who were deeply involved with the James Brown estate and might, at last, shed light on how Brown’s final wishes were thwarted .

Seven of those witnesses are high ranking officials from the Attorney General’s office: former Attorney General (now Governor) Henry McMaster, current Attorney General Alan Wilson, John McIntosh, Robert Cook, Creighton Waters, Sonny Jones and Mary Frances Jowers.

The motion would allow Jones and Jowers to offer testimony limited only to their opinion of Pope’s work as trustee. The motion would exclude them altogether from testifying as to their own involvement, as to what they themselves may have done, seen, heard or said. The two of them worked on the Brown estate for the Attorney General from 2007-2017.

The motion also would exclude testimony from two Columbia attorneys who brought the Richland 4900 lawsuit against Pope and former co-trustee, Robert Buchanan of Aiken.

The attorneys, Kenneth Wingate and Everett Kendall of Columbia, brought a 2010 lawsuit in the name of several will contestants and then Attorney General Henry McMaster. They alleged Pope and Buchanan damaged the Brown estate by “tens of millions” by refusing a $100 million offer for the music empire — while at the same time, the estate filed documents with the IRS that claimed the at-death value of Brown’s estate was only $4.7 million.

Now-Governor McMaster has testified in a deposition that he did not authorize Wingate to make the Attorney General a party in the the Richland 4900 lawsuit.

Wingate and Kendall have also given depositions, but only after a fight that ended with a court order from former Supreme Court Justice Jean Toal, acting as a circuit court judge.

In previous filings, Pope and Buchanan claimed that Richland 4900 was an attempt to force them to drop their appeal of a 2009 settlement deal in which McMaster gave will contestants over half of what Brown left to his “I Feel Good” Trust—despite a clause in the will that says anyone who contests the will, receives nothing.

Under the settlement, McMaster also gave himself the power to appoint the trustee, who would serve at the “pleasure” of the Attorney General.

Pope and Buchanan appealed the settlement because it ignored Brown’s estate plan, and in 2013 the Supreme Court overturned the settlement, saying it “dismembered” Brown’s estate plan.

The Court ruled McMaster had overstepped by giving himself the right to appoint the trustee. Bauknight’s appointment was voided, but Judge Doyet Early of Aiken re-appointed him the sole trustee. Bauknight then refused to pay Pope what the court had awarded her in 2009 for her trustee’s service, and she filed the claims lawsuit.

In a motion also filed Aug. 4, Pope argued the testimony of the nine witnesses is critical to her case—and if not in person, then depositions of the witnesses should be allowed.

Court filings indicate that several controversies related to the estate will be addressed during the claims trial, from the $4.7 million valuation to missing millions to Brown’s marital status.

The claims case is separate from Richland 4900, in which Buchanan is no longer a defendant. Buchanan received $500,000 in a 2012 settlement.

A recent development in the claims case is whether the claims case will be tried with or without a jury. Even though a jury trial was ordered on May 4 by Judge Doyet Early, Brown’s estate filed a motion on July 31 to have the trial heard by only the judge.

In other estate news, the 2016 accounting for the James Brown estate has not yet been filed with the Aiken Probate Court, nor has an extension been filed.

McMaster and Attorney General Wilson were asked to comment by email, but neither responded.

By Sue Summer

For The Newberry Observer