DMV violates S.C. law on compiling jury lists
Earlier this year, a law was passed requiring the S.C. DMV to provide jury lists to the municipal courts, compiled from licensed drivers and holders of S.C. ID cards. Before this law was passed, the jury lists were compiled solely from lists of registered voters, which causes concern for many as registered voters are not necessarily a representative cross-section of the defendant's peers. The DMV, however, has not provided the necessary list of licensed drivers to the municipal courts from which to draw their jury pools, citing "some sort of automation problem," according to Chief Justice Toal.
In response, the Chief Justice issued an order on December 11th stating that, through February 15th, municipal courts should use jury lists created from registered voters only.
The Supreme Court of South CarolinaRE: Municipal Court Jury Lists
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I FIND THAT Act No. 270 of 2008 amended Code ยง14-25-130, so as to require that the South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles (SCDMV) shall provide to the State Election Commission an electronic file of all individuals eligible for jury duty in each municipality who hold a valid South Carolina driver's license or identification card issued pursuant to State law. The State Election Commission is then required to merge this list with the list of registered voters in each municipality and distribute this merged list in October of each year to municipalities statewide for the preparation of jury lists for municipal courts. SCDMV has reported that they are currently unable to furnish the list described above to the State Election Commission, leaving the State Election Commission currently unable to provide municipalities with a jury list in compliance with Act No. 270 of 2008.
THEREFORE, pursuant to Article V, Section 4, South Carolina Constitution,
IT IS ORDERED that, due to the current inability of SCDMV to comply with the provisions of Act No. 270 of 2008, the State Election Commission shall distribute 2009 municipal jury lists comprised only of registered voters in each municipality. Municipalities statewide are authorized to draw juries through February 15, 2009, from lists comprised of registered voters provided by the State Election Commission. Any juries drawn on or prior to February 15, 2009, for cases held subsequent to February 15,2009, are valid pursuant to this Order.
The provisions of this Order are effective immediately and remain in effect through the end of February 15, 2009, at which time it becomes ineffective.s/Jean Hoefer Toal
Jean Hoefer Toal
Chief Justice
December 11, 2008
Columbia, South Carolina
According to Myrtle Beach Online, "Toal said she has no authority to order DMV to comply with the law." She does however, as the above order indicates, have no problem ordering the municipal courts to disregard the law.
Lonnie Randolph, president of the state chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said Friday the new law was intended to include as many qualified people as possible in jury pools. He said Toal's order doesn't help the situation. "The chief justice, it appears, is on the wrong side of the law," he said. "She is further disenfranchising the citizenry from being entitled to serve on juries, and criminal defendants don't get the jury selection they are entitled to by law."
Hopefully the DMV will get it together by the February 15th date that the Chief Justice has set for the municipal courts. In the meantime, any defendant who has a jury trial in the municipal court should be careful to make a record, objecting to the jury pool as selected by the court as being in violation of state law and the state and federal constitutions.
