Over 50% of those charged with DUI escape conviction in SC’s largest counties, report says
In six of South Carolina’s seven largest counties, DUI charges don’t stick in over half of cases surveyed, contributing to the state leading the nation in its rate of impaired driving fatalities, a new report says.
Mothers Against Drunk Driving in South Carolina has kept tabs on a sample of first-offense DUI cases in select counties since 2017. Its latest court monitoring report, released Tuesday, shows that South Carolina’s DUI conviction rate lags significantly behind a national benchmark of 59%.
In Horry and Richland counties, just over two in three first-offense DUI cases surveyed were pleaded down to a lesser charge or dismissed entirely.
The statistic mirrors the findings of a March 2020 investigation by The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette, which reviewed more than 2,000 DUI arrests in Beaufort County and found repeat offenders are let off again and again, some later causing fatal crashes.
“It is unthinkable that half of those arrested for DUI were not actually driving impaired,” the MADD report says.
South Carolina ranks third in the nation for alcohol-impaired traffic fatalities per 100,000 people, according to data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and U.S. Census Bureau. In both 2017 and 2018, the most recent years numbers are available, it was first among states with a population greater than 1.1 million people.
MADD’s court monitoring project, funded through grants from the S.C. Department of Public Safety, is a response to “systematic issues” and “frustrations” from law enforcement officers and prosecutors around DUI enforcement, said Steven Burritt, MADD’s executive director in South Carolina, at a press conference Wednesday morning.
There is “little data” on disposition of drunken-driving charges, he said.
The findings should come as no surprise.
“For the most part, the problems we have with DUI prosecution and enforcement in our state have been around for a long time,” Burritt said, “We just refuse to do things differently.”
Officers face attorneys in some South Carolina courts
Comparing conviction rates between counties is difficult because in different parts of the state, a DUI case may be handled in court by the arresting police officer, or a trained prosecutor.
In Spartanburg County, MADD found 67% of the cases it surveyed resulted in a conviction, the highest percentage of the counties included in the report.
Burritt singled out the “aggressive” mindset of 7th Circuit Solicitor Barry Barnette, whose office covers Spartanburg County and who has been recognized as a leader in DUI prosecution in the state.
Asked by MADD what distinguishes his county, Barnette said simply, “We try our cases,” according to the report. Whereas jury trials are rare in other jurisdictions, Barnette’s office is involved in as many as three or four a week, according to MADD.
In South Carolina, plea deals are common in DUI cases, with many charges pleaded down to a lesser charge of reckless driving. Some officials interviewed by MADD understand that charge likely signals a DUI arrest on a driver’s record.
“If you’ve got a reckless driving charge on your record in this state, it’s because you got a DUI,” said Burritt.
In many jurisdictions, police officers without legal degrees are forced to try their own cases.
“The vast majority of officers we have spoken with do not want to prosecute their own cases and are frustrated at the ‘unfair’ match-up,” the report says.
Officers are much less likely to secure a DUI conviction against a defense attorney, the report found. Among all the cases surveyed, when a prosecutor handled the case versus a defense attorney, 43% of cases resulted in a conviction. When officers handled their own cases, the conviction rate dipped to 13%, the report found.
In only one other state do police officers prosecute DUI cases, according to the report.
MADD targets “toothless” refusal law
Per South Carolina law, those arrested for impaired driving may refuse to submit to a breathalyzer test measuring blood-alcohol content. The penalty for refusing is a six-month license suspension, but the law is “toothless,” the MADD report says.
Many accused drunken drivers obtain temporary licenses allowing travel to work and school, making it difficult for officers to determine whether they are violating restrictions while driving around town. In addition, those who refuse and then are found guilty face the lowest possible penalties for a first-offense DUI, according to the report.
Police officers told MADD that they consistently encounter “double refusals,” where drivers refuse to perform roadside sobriety tests and won’t submit a breath sample, leaving officers with less total evidence in a case, the report says.
“It looks like we crafted this entire system to encourage people to refuse,” said Burritt.
The organization supported a bill last year that would have required ignition interlock devices — small, handheld car breathalyzers that require drivers to provide a breath sample in order to start their vehicle — for those wanting to apply for temporary licenses and for those convicted of drunken driving.
The bill passed by a 40-1 vote in the Senate but failed in the House, and has been reintroduced for the upcoming legislative session.
Calls for change to South Carolina’s DUI law
MADD’s 2020 court monitoring report lays out an extensive set of recommendations to reform DUI enforcement and prosecution in the state.
“South Carolina has not been known for speed in DUI reform,” Burritt said.
The report calls for a number of changes, including:
- A repeated call for reform to South Carolina’s “dash cam statute,” a section of the DUI law that requires near perfect video recording of a DUI arrest, according to MADD
- An aggressive emphasis on seeking conviction for first-offense DUI offenders
- Requiring ignition interlock devices for all DUI offenders, mirroring laws in over 30 other states, as well as modernizing court proceedings with teleconferences and other technology
- Adequately funding DUI prosecution; reducing the practice of police prosecution
- Targeting summary court judges, who have great influence on the outcome of a DUI case, with additional training
- Improved training for police officers on proper DUI arrest procedures
The COVID-19 pandemic has the potential to hurt DUI conviction rates across the state, according to the MADD report.
With courts having shut down this year, backlogs will increase on already burdened dockets around the state.
“The impact going forward ... is going to be huge,” Burritt said.
