Sheriff P. J. Tanner demands to see review of how charges are being dumped
From Hilton Head Island Packet
Beaufort County courts made headway in reducing a backlog of almost 500 drunken-driving cases after an order last spring from the state’s top judge, according to figures from the S.C. Judicial Department.
Supreme Court Chief Justice Jean Toal ordered the state’s local courts to clear drunk-driving cases on March 21, and four months later 337 out of 474 cases in Beaufort County magistrate and municipal courts were disposed of, according to the figures.
Meanwhile, 167 new cases flowed into the court system over the four-month period Toal’s order was in effect. Comparatively, old cases were disposed of at twice the rate that new cases came in. Most of the new cases aren’t sitting idle — they have been scheduled for trial or for preliminary action, Magistrate Court administrator Stephanie Garst said. ….MORE