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In the next few months, they must make significant progress on the 431 cases of driving under the influence and driving with an unlawful alcohol concentration that are pending in magistrate and municipal courts, according to an order from S.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice Jean Toal.
The statewide mandate applies to non-jury cases that are more than 60 days old and jury cases that are more than 120 days old.
Beaufort County Magistrate Court has a plan to coordinate schedules and tackle the backlog, according to court administrator Stephanie Garst.
The court has asked all law enforcement agencies to review their cases and let court officials know where they are in preparation for trial by April 15, Garst said.
Starting May 1, law enforcement, defense attorneys, defendants who are representing themselves, and magistrate judges will begin status conferences. Those conferences will determine whether the cases are disposed of with plea agreements or go to a bench or jury trial, Garst said.
Juggling schedules for meetings and court appearances can be tough, Garst said.
"We're the lowest priority," she said. "If an attorney or an officer is scheduled to be in our court and they're called to Family Court or General Sessions ... we have to work around that, and it really stretches the schedule."
Court officials have reviewed the pending cases and found some have actions scheduled, such as jury selection, and that none is "way, way old," Garst said.
But that's not true in other counties in the state. S.C. Department of Public Safety spokesman Sid Gaulden said the review of backlogged cases found some that had been pending for more than 10 years.
Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner said his office has 60 pending cases in Magistrate Court but doesn't know the number in municipal courts. He has appointed Lt. Col. Neil Baxley to coordinate deputies' schedules for court appearances.
In South Carolina, law enforcement officers who make DUI arrests act as the court prosecutors for their cases.
Tanner said courts should add more trial rosters and expand hours to deal with the load, including the possibility of night court.
"If we've got to do things at nighttime, so be it," he said.
While the order applies to magistrate and municipal courts, 14th Circuit Court Solicitor Duffie Stone said his office also will help. The Solicitor's Office received a $75,000 state grant to hire an attorney to help S.C. Highway Patrol officers prosecute their DUI cases. Highway Patrol makes the bulk of DUI arrests, averaging 12,000 a year statewide, Tanner said.
The lawyer will also assist officers in other law enforcement agencies, including the Sheriff's Office, to prepare their cases, Stone said.
Tanner said the help is needed.
"The playing field is not level when you've got a law enforcement officer having to wear the hat of a prosecutor and match wits in a jury trial with a defense attorney who does this on a daily basis," Tanner said.
