DUISearch results for category: South Carolina DUI
Highway Patrol Creates South Carolina DUI Team
31 officers will exclusively target drunk driving in SC.
The South Carolina Highway Patrol announced the creation of a special team to fight drunk driving in the state. 31 highly trained troopers will exclusively combat driving under the influence in South Carolina. Their statewide efforts will include conducting saturation patrols and monitoring areas with high numbers of SC DUI arrests.
Nearly half of all traffic fatalities in South Carolina are attributable to alcohol impairment, compared to 32% nationwide. In part from a crackdown on drunk driving, the Highway Patrol has seen the number of arrests for DUI in South Carolina rise over the years, to a total of 11,348 during 2008.
Members of the special unit can either work alone or coordinate sobriety checkpoints, patrols and other enforcement efforts with highway patrol troops across the state. Each member of the team was selected for their ability and experience in identifying and apprehending those driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Their skill in assisting the prosecution of DUI offenders was also taken into consideration.
The announcement of the DUI team coincides with the launch of a multi-media advertising campaign aimed at educating the public about drinking and driving in South Carolina.
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Cop Resigns After South Carolina DUI
Officer had daughter in car at time of alcohol related accident.
A Walhalla, South Carolina police officer has resigned following his arrest for driving under the influence. Lt. Scott Stanley was charged with SC DUI last weekend by the state highway patrol following a single vehicle accident.
Stanley reportedly had picked up his daughter from elementary school and was driving to pick up another of his children when he ran off the road and hit a culvert. No one was injured in the accident though responding officers suspected impaired driving. Stanley’s blood alcohol content registered .10%, slightly above the legal threshold for intoxication.
Stanley, 39, was an eight-year veteran with the local police department. The chief of police stated that Stanley was a good officer who made a mistake.
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New South Carolina DUI Laws Go Into Effect
Harsher penalties established for SC drunk driving.
Effective noon February 10, 2009, South Carolina will have some of the toughest penalties for DUI offenses in the United States. The legislation was passed during the 2008 legislative session and signed last year by Gov. Mark Sanford.
All motorists, even first offenders, arrested for driving under the influence in South Carolina who have a blood alcohol content of .15% or higher, or refuse to submit to breath tests, will have their driver’s licenses suspended. The new law does establish a 30-day window to apply for a temporary ‘alcohol license’.
The severity of additional South Carolina DUI penalties is influenced by a driver’s BAC. With a BAC of .08% to less than .10% a first offense will result in a $400 fine and 48 hours spent either in jail or performing community service. With a BAC of .10% to less than .16% the penalties increases to a $500 fine and 72 hours of jail or community service. With a BAC of .16% or higher, the fine is $1,000 and the motorist must spend 30 days in jail or performing community service.
In cases of DUI related accidents resulting in death or severe bodily injury, felony charges will be filed and the fine will be between $5,100 and $10,100. With death the potential jail sentence ranges from 1 year to 25 years.
Underage drinkers will have their licenses suspended for six months on first offense. A second arrest within five years will result in loss of license for one year.
The stricter DUI legislation was prompted by statistics showing South Carolina as one of the worst states in the nation for alcohol related traffic fatalities.
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New South Carolina DUI Law Signed
Governor signs legislation increasing penalties for drunk driving in South Carolina.
Governor Mark Sanford signed bill H.3496 into law, strengthening the DUI laws of South Carolina by adding new penalties and closing several loopholes.
The law establishes a tiered system of penalties, with increased consequences for elevated blood alcohol content. Penalties will be imposed for any motorist who refuses to submit to a breath test when driving under the influence in South Carolina is suspected. Both first time and repeat offenders will experience greater consequences if convicted, and the option of community service has been eliminated for second or subsequent offenses.
The goal of the legislation is to give law enforcement the tools to make the roads safer, and to reduce the legal strategies often used by South Carolina DUI defense attorneys. The new law goes into effect in 2009.
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South Carolina DUI Bill Moves Forward
Legislation aimed at toughening penalties for drinking and driving in South Carolina.
A conference committee of the South Carolina legislature has worked through most of the differences in competing South Carolina DUI bills, meaning a proposed tiered system of penalties for drunk driving in South Carolina may soon be presented to the general assembly.
The legislation calls for tying penalties to a motorist’s blood alcohol content. The higher the BAC, the more severe the penalty. Motorists with repeat South Carolina driving under the influence offenses would also be subject to increased penalties.
The committee agreed on language that calls for:
- Instructing juries in trials involving South Carolina DUI arrests with high blood alcohol content to first determine guilt or innocence and then establish the level of alcohol for an appropriate penalty category.
- Having new breath test machines analyzed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to ensure they function properly. The equipment had been modified by the State Law Enforcement Division to meet South Carolina law.
- Accepting the Senate version of the bill that calls for stiff penalties for first time offenders with a high BAC.
The committee previously agreed to make all those convicted of drinking and driving in South Carolina, even first time offenders, to undergo alcohol abuse treatment and to drop the requirement for multiple Miranda warnings during a suspected DUI traffic stop.
An issue to still be resolved is the length of driver’s license suspension for drivers under the age of 21 who refuse to submit to a breath test.
South Carolina DUI defense attorneys say the focus of the legislation should not be on first time offenders. Statistically over 90% of all motorists accused of drunk driving in South Carolina are never arrested for an alcohol related issue again.
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DUI Cases Dismissed
Most Charges Dropped When Police Didn't Show Up in CourtBy Rick BrundrettKnight
A dispute between two state agencies has resulted in the dismissal of hundreds of cases involving accused drunken drivers who had their licenses automatically suspended. From Jan. 1 through Wednesday, S.C. Administrative Law Court hearing officers dismissed 421 cases statewide - nearly 70 percent of the 602 cases they heard - making it easier for those drivers to get back behind the wheel. And while the dismissal rate for all of 2005 also was high - 60 percent - the difference this year is that in the vast majority of the dismissed cases, the investigating police officers didn't show up for the administrative hearings because they weren't notified. Police officers haven't been notified because the court and the state Department of Motor Vehicles can't agree who has that responsibility. A state law that went into effect Jan. 1 transferred oversight of the hearing officers from the department to the court. Marvin Kittrell, the court's chief judge, said Thursday that his staff would start notifying police officers immediately. Meanwhile, Kittrell said he is pushing proposed legislation, scheduled for debate Tuesday in the S.C. House, that would more clearly give his office that responsibility. "It's a mess," he said. "I really think it's [the motor vehicles department's] responsibility."
Under state law, licenses are suspended automatically for 90 days for suspected drunken drivers who refuse to take a blood-alcohol test, and 30 days for those whose blood-alcohol level is at least .15 percent. A blood-alcohol level of .08 percent or higher is illegal. Drivers can appeal their suspensions to one of the state's six Administrative Law Court hearing officers. If their administrative cases are dismissed, drivers can get their licenses back pending the outcome of their criminal cases. Kittrell, who oversees the hearing officers, said he understands the public safety ramifications of dismissing cases, but "we cannot be more than a court." "We have to apply the law equally and fairly to all parties when they walk in the door." Pursuing appeals
The Department of Motor Vehicles has not reinstated licenses in about 200 of the 421 dismissed cases while it files appeals with Kittrell's court, department officials said last week. Most of the affected drivers can apply for temporary licenses pending the department's appeals, they said. "We have additional cases that are being reviewed, and we will probably file more" appeals, said department spokeswoman Beth Parks. The department contends that when its hearing officers and staff were transferred to the court under the new law, "all the functions and duties went with it," Parks said. "We are working these things through with the ALC," said Lotte Devlin, the department's policy and planning administrator. "There's just a difference in interpretation going on." Col. Russell Roark, head of the Highway Patrol, said last week his division had been working with the DMV to develop a "cleaner" notification process involving sending hearing notices to officers by e-mail instead of by fax. The e-mails would be forwarded via a central account at the Highway Patrol. "We're relying on the Department of Motor Vehicles to notify us," he said. "If the DMV notifies us of a hearing, we will try, to the best of our ability, to make sure our trooper is at the hearing." Roark didn't know if any of the 421 dismissed cases involved troopers. Legislative fix
A sponsor of a House bill aimed at fixing the problem blames the DMV. "They're deliberately picking a fight," Rep. Greg Delleney, R-Chester, said last week. "Had there not been a problem to begin with, the administrative hearing officers would still be with them." Before the hearing officers were transferred out of the DMV, Delleney said, some department managers treated the officers "like stepchildren." Some were even locked out of their offices, he said. Parks said department director Marcia Adams - who was unavailable for comment last week - proposed in 2004 moving the hearing officers out of the department because "it really wasn't part of our mission." Delleney said he supported the transfer to the Administrative Law Court so drivers could have a "fair and impartial hearing." But Kittrell said he didn't want the hearing officers under his jurisdiction. "I felt I had enough on my plate at that time," he said. Delleney said he will push to get the legislation this week to the Senate, which has a similar bill pending in a subcommittee. Under both bills, the arresting police officers or officers operating Breathalyzer machines would be designated as parties in Administrative Law Court hearings. Kittrell said current law requires his court to notify only parties. Police officers are now considered witnesses for the department, not parties.
No-shows
Jami Goldman, executive director of the state chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, said last week she was unaware of the problem until contacted by The (Columbia) State. "The officers I've met really want to get drunk drivers off the road," she said. "I would have to believe if they had to be [at the hearings], they would be there. It would be silly to pull somebody over and then go away." Last year, however, administrative hearing officers, while part of the Department of Motor Vehicles, dismissed 1,818, or nearly 60 percent, of the 3,118 cases they heard because police officers didn't appear, Administrative Law Court records show. Failure to notify police officers about the hearings wasn't the problem then, court and department officials said. But they could not provide reasons for those dismissals. Robert Harley Jr., the state's chief hearing officer, estimated that in a third of his dismissed cases, the arresting officer didn't show up as part of a deal in which the driver agreed to quickly plead guilty to the criminal charge. Officers also might skip administrative hearings because it's their scheduled day off, he said, or they have conflicts with other cases, or they don't believe their case is strong. S.C. Administrative Law Court hearing officers dismissed 421 DUI cases statewide - nearly 70 percent of the 602 cases they heard - making it easier for those drivers to get back behind the wheel.
Source: http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/
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South Carolina Looks at Tougher DUI Laws
Governor wants to reduce drunk driving with new legislation
Citing a “real problem” with existing state DUI laws, South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford announced support for toughening the penalties for drinking and driving. Though he offered no specifics, at a recent news conference he said the state needed to “get serious about DUI in South Carolina.”
His statement was influenced by a newspaper investigation into South Carolina DUI sentencing that showed about 40% of all repeat offenders received reduced plea bargains. The number rose to 60% for offenders with three or more DUI arrests.
The answer may come in the form of legislation proposed by a South Carolina Department of Public Safety study group created to outline potential changes to DUI laws. That group advocates a tiered approach to drunk driving: the higher the blood-alcohol content, the more severe the penalty.
Similar legislation gained no traction during last year’s legislative session, though the legislator who introduced the 2005 bill, State Rep. Jim Harrison, said that a tiered penalty system is needed. “We hear so much about social drinkers not being the problem in this state, that it's the heavy drinkers that cause most of the fatalities," he said. "I think this statute recognized that those with a high blood-alcohol content deserved stiffer penalties.”
Other legislative considerations include increasing fines, requiring alcohol abuse treatment for first-time offenders and dropping the requirement of reading Miranda rights to a DUI suspect prior to a field sobriety test. South Carolina is the only state that requires that latter action.
One of a study group members felt the tiered DUI penalty system would gain favor during the next session of the South Carolina Legislature and indicated plans to pre-file a bill soon.
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South Carolina Lags in Addressing Repeat DUI Offenses
Victim advocate groups say drunk drivers are getting off easy
Over the past five years, nearly forty percent of South Carolina drivers arrested for repeat DUI offenses received reduced charges in exchange for pleading guilty. That number is 71 percent in one Circuit Court. Almost sixty percent of cases involving a third or fourth offense are plead to a less serious charge. Offenders are often not sentenced to jail, and if they are it is typically for a minimal amount of time.
Victim advocate groups say more could be done to keep dangerous, repeat DUI offenders off the roads. They cite the fact that South Carolina ranks ninth in the nation for the percentage of fatal accidents involving alcohol (36%). Many of those drivers have been convicted of a previous DUI offense.
Laura Hudson, spokesperson for the South Carolina Victim Assistance Network says, "The system is getting lackadaisical."
There are several issues affecting the statistics and the decisions of judges and prosecutors. "Negotiated pleas are a fact of life," says prosecutor David Pascoe. "Can you imagine if you tried every DUI case? You wouldn't move any other cases." Limited staff and court time competing with crimes such as murder and robbery means prosecutors often seek a plea bargain in DUI cases.
It is the judge’s discretion to accept or reject a plea bargain, but they often agree to lighter sentencing while citing issues like prison overcrowding and a full court docket. Repeat DUI offenders are more prone to receive probation when there were no traffic injuries and they cooperated with officers during their DUI arrest. Other factors include time between DUI arrests and whether the blood-alcohol level was close to the legal limit. A reduced plea typically comes with the requirement for alcohol abuse treatment.
South Carolina DUI defense attorneys argue that counseling rather than jail time has a greater impact drunk driving.
South Carolina has two laws on the books that were designed to reduce repeat DUI offenders, but they have not been used.
One law allows the South Carolina Motor Vehicles Department to seize license plates and vehicle registration. The department however has not processed numerous requests to address the over 3,000 repeat DUI offenders who have been sentenced to give up their plates and registration.
The second requires the State Law Enforcement Division to install alcohol detecting ignition interlocks on the vehicles of repeat DUI offenders. Due to a lack of funds to develop regulations for the installation of the devices, a six-year old intiative has not been
utilized.
The national anti-drunk driving organization MADD, says that the loopholes and the lack of enforcement of DUI laws have lead to the high drunk driving fatality statistics in South Carolina. It cites that there are eighteen states that prohibit or restrict plea bargains in DUI cases. MADD spokesperson Misty Moyse said South Carolina could save lives if it approached repeat DUI offenses like its neighboring states.
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South Carolina High Court Finds Breath Test Machine Records Inadequate
South Carolina High Court Finds Breath Test Machine Records Inadequate
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