S1154 cliffnotes - bond hearings
S1154 made two substantive changes to the bond statutes - first, it added "any charges pending against the accused at the time release is requested" to the list of things that a court must consider in determining conditions of release.
The old statute already listed "all incident reports generated as a result of the offense charged, if available" - as one of the items a court must consider in determining conditions of release, but this seldom happens (that I've seen, anyway). The new statute adds a section requiring law enforcement or detention staff to provide the court with the incident report, and provides that the court has contempt powers to enforce the requirement.
I doubt that most magistrates or municipal judges are going to insist that they get the incident report "or else." But, this is something that a defense attorney can point to in asking the court to require them to provide the incident report. If it is provided to the court by law enforcement it must also be provided to defense counsel, and it is an opportunity to find out what the basis of the charges are - information that has not otherwise been readily available at the initial bond hearing.
As an aside, the old law and the new law dealing with magistrates in 22-5-510 describes what offenses a magistrate cannot set bond on, and which offenses they can choose to deny bond on. The magistrate at an initial bond hearing cannot set bond on any offense punishable by death or by life (murder, burglary 1st), and the magistrate may deny bond on violent offenses as defined by 16-1-60. This means if the charge before the magistrate is not specifically listed in 16-1-60 the magistrate must set a bond for the person.
It's not a guideline or a suggestion - it is a restatement of Article I Section 15 of the S.C. Constitution:
SECTION 15. Right of bail; excessive bail; cruel or unusual or corporal punishment; detention of witnesses.All persons shall be, before conviction, bailable by sufficient sureties, but bail may be denied to persons charged with capital offenses or offenses punishable by life imprisonment, or with violent offenses defined by the General Assembly, giving due weight to the evidence and to the nature and circumstances of the event. Excessive bail shall not be required, nor shall excessive fines be imposed, nor shall cruel, nor corporal, nor unusual punishment be inflicted, nor shall witnesses be unreasonably detained. (1970 (56) 2684; 1971 (57) 315; 1998 Act No. 259.)
