It didn’t take the jury long to decide.

Three Rock Hill School Board members have been removed from office for misconduct following the jury verdict of a three-day trial in Lawrence County Common Pleas Court.

Board members Lavetta Sites, Wanda Jenkins and Paul R. Johnson were found guilty of &uot;malfeasance, misfeasance, non-feasance and gross neglect of duty&#8221 in their positions on the board.

The case centered around the board conduct in seeking to remove Superintendent Lloyd Evans from office.

In his opening statement, Austin Wildman, attorney for the group Citizens Against Poor Spending (CAPS) that filed the lawsuit, said he and his partner, Eric Schooley, would show the three board members foolishly spent money on lawyers to help them get rid of Evans.

The attorney also said he would show the board abdicated their responsibility by handing over control of the board for four months last year to the county school board and refused to share vital information with two other board members, Troy Hardy and Jackie Harris.

The jury agreed that the board members did not conduct themselves properly.

For more, see today’s edition.