COLUMBIA, S.C. -- A convicted rapist is demanding that law enforcement officials return some of his personal property, including a pair of women's pink panties and some photographs authorities consider pornographic.
John Wayne Todd, convicted in January and sentenced to 30 years in prison for the rape of a University of South Carolina coed, claims in a lawsuit his property -- including 64 pictures, many of them of women - were seized from his Columbia apartment one day before his arrest on criminal sexual conduct charges last year.
'It's a very simple case. You got it, and we want it back,' said Todd's lawyer, James Corley.
The lawsuit claims State Law Enforcement Division, or SLED, officers took the panties, photographs, two survival knives, a knife sharpener, a handgun, 99 cassette tapes and three copies of Todd's book 'How to Build an Ark: A Practical Guide to Survival.'
Survivalists believe they must begin preparing now for an inevitable nuclear showdown with the Soviet Union. The book written by Todd outlines construction of bomb shelters and recommends types of food and weapons to be stored for use in the wake of a holocaust.
Listed as defendants in Todd's suit, which is pending in Richland County Common Pleas Court, are SLED and several officers who worked on the rape investigation.
SLED spokesman Hugh Munn said Tuesday he was not familiar with the suit, but he said Todd's property was 'seized as evidence, and it takes a court order to have them released.'
'You can't just arbitrarily give those things back,' Munn said.
He noted the items are now in the possession of the 5th Circuit solicitor's office, which prosecuted Todd.
Corley said he has asked SLED for the items on several occasions.
'We asked for all items they did not intend to use for evidence and they didn't use these things for evidence,' the attorney said.
Todd is serving his prison term at the Kirkland Correctional Institute, but Corley said his client's conviction is under appeal.
The University of South Carolina student said she was raped by Todd after she was lured to his apartment by an advertisement seeking models.
