South Carolina Judge Faces Backlash After 24-Hour Sentence in Child Abuse Image Case, Netizens Say ‘Absolutely Disgusting’

South Carolina Circuit Judge Deadra Jefferson reportedly sentenced a child predator to one day in jail after he was accused of possessing nearly 1,900 images and videos depicting child s----- abuse.

Donald Gresh had faced up to 60 years in prison on multiple charges, but ultimately served only 24 hours after accepting a plea deal presented by prosecutors.

“This is what is broken in South Carolina’s courts,” Congresswoman Nancy Mace said in a May 4 post on X.

“Judge Jefferson was elected to the bench by the South Carolina Legislature in 1996, under the same lawyer-legislator system that still hand-picks the judges who rule on cases brought by their own colleagues,” Mace said.

Mace, who made history as the first Republican woman elected to Congress from South Carolina, is currently running for governor in the state.

Her post quickly drew widespread attention online, with social media users debating sentencing practices and South Carolina’s judicial selection system.

“This is absolutely disgusting. I’ll never understand how judges give any leeway to predators like this…they deserve the max every time!” wrote an X user. “She needs to be removed from office and held accountable for everything this child predator does.”

“Judge Deadra Jefferson of South Carolina, SHAME ON YOU!” added another.

“It is absolutely specific rogue judges. This sentence handling is far from the normal for such crimes in South Carolina, and throughout the nation in similar state charges.

“It’s not a broken Judicial system, it’s allowing these activist Judge's in, allowing them to handle cases, and to have no accountability for their own actions (sic),” wrote another user.

“24 hours=1,440 minutes. Meaning, this absolutely vile creature was sentenced to less than 1 minute of jail time per each disgusting image/video they possessed… all thanks to this lowlife sorry excuse of a “judge.”

Completely, irrefutably, objectively, *undeniably* unacceptable,” added one user.

“On or about March 24, 2018, pursuant to an active investigation of Second Degree Sexual Exploitation of a Minor, Charleston County Sheriff’s Deputies executed a search warrant at 864 Savannah Hwy, Charleston, SC, which was identified as the business address of the Defendant,” court documents stated.

“The Defendant acknowledged ownership of several computers and loose hard drives that were seized from the location. During subsequent forensic processing, multiple hundreds of exploitative images were discovered on the Defendant's devices that were seized.”

Gresh was arrested on July 23, 2018, and charged with s----- exploitation of a minor in the third degree. The defendant pleaded guilty on April 7, 2022.

Judge Jefferson was elected to the 9th Judicial Circuit, Seat 1, and her current term in that position was scheduled to end on June 30, 2025.

He was later sentenced to one day in jail following a plea agreement presented by prosecutors.