Unclogging the dockets
On February 14, last month, the S.C. Supreme Court ordered that all magistrate court and municipal court non-jury matters be disposed of within 60 days, and that all cases where jury trials have been requested be disposed of within 120 days. This would include all first offense domestic violence and driving under the influence cases pending anywhere in the state.
Last week, a second order was released, specific to each county, providing a list of all DUI or DUAC cases pending and ordering that those cases specifically be tried within 120 days of the date of the Order (July 18, 2011 would be 120 days).
As of March 18, 2011, there were 44,962 criminal cases pending in Horry County magistrate and municipal courts, of which 1545 were DUI or DUAC cases which are more than 60 days old for non-jury and more than 120 days old for jury cases. The new order points out that Horry County magistrate and municipal courts are not in compliance with the Court's February 14th order, and it orders the Summary Court Chief Administrative Judge to set all of the County's DUI cases for trial before July 18th, 2011.
IT IS ORDERED that the Horry County Chief Summary Court Judge for Administrative Purposes, who is empowered to set terms of court and assign cases to any magistrate in the county, shall set for trial or cause to be set for trial by other magistrates in Horry County, the DUI and DUAC cases set forth on the list attached* to this Order and made a part hereof, within one-hundred twenty (120) days of the date of this Order. No case shall be continued except for good and sufficient cause set forth in writing and approved by the Chief Summary Court Judge for Administrative Purposes.
There is no question that the magistrate and municipal court dockets are backed up - some clearly worse than others. Central Jury Court (all magistrate court cases in the county go to central jury court once a jury trial has been requested) is not as bad as, say, City of Myrtle Beach Municipal Court, which until recently was taking over a year before a case came up on the docket the first time, or Conway Municipal Court, where there are cases pending that are 4 and 5 years old. It will be interesting to watch this play out and to see what kind of impact it has on the dockets over time.
South Carolina needs a speedy trial law, more so for General Sessions level cases than magistrate, and it needs one that has teeth. Unlike many other states, there is no guarantee of the right to a speedy trial in South Carolina other than the protection offered by the Constitution - whether the right to a speedy trial has been violated is determined by the factors outlined in Barker v. Wingo and that does not offer real protection at all for most defendants.
