Can you make a citizen’s arrest in SC? People across the country are complaining about Stand Your Ground laws and how they encourage the murder of people of color by white vigilantes… these people complaining have clearly not seen SC’s citizen’s arrest laws. SC law does authorize citizen’s arrests, and, in many cases, it also ...
What does every juror need to know when they are chosen to sit for a criminal trial? In an article for Slate, Seth Stevenson writes about how he served as a juror in 1998, helped convict two men of murder, and has regretted it ever since… Seth describes how he was just a “cog in ...
The grand jury process in SC is a meaningless waste of time. I’ve often heard attorneys and judges in SC say, “The grand jury would indict a ham sandwich,” and it might be true. Why? Why do we have a system that is so devoid of truth and meaning that judges would say, “the grand ...
"Systemic Racism in Columbia, SC - Refusal to Stop on Command of Officer" was originally published in February 2019 - the data is accurate for the period of July 2017 - July 2018. Has the City of Columbia made any changes since then? In 2017, 133 people were charged in the City of Columbia under ...
We get calls from time to time from people who want to know how to get a restraining order. Sometimes we can help and sometimes we can’t, but it is important to know when you can get a restraining order and how to do it. There are three types of restraining orders available under SC ...
What are the stages of a criminal trial? Although most criminal cases do not get to a trial, everything that happens in a case is informed by what a possible trial would look like. If we are likely to win a trial, we are not likely to accept a plea offer to prison time, for ...