In March of this year, South Carolina Supreme Court Chief Justice Jean Toal sent a letter to judges across the state urging them to handle the backlog of DUI cases. Solicitor Greg Hembree says that letter was the catalyst for major change, and now there's been an 84% reduction in just a few months.
In Horry and Georgetown Counties alone, there were 605 open DUI cases, now that number is at 100.
Hembree says to combat DUI's nearly three years ago, the Highway Patrol designated troopers in our area specifically for that purpose.
"They didn't work wrecks. They didn't give out regular tickets. They were doing nothing but DUI enforcement, doing it at night and on the weekend. Our DUI arrests just spiked after they got started good. Our DUI arrests more than doubled in a year."
That sent more cases to the Solicitor's Office - eventually creating a backlog.
To move more cases through the system, a full-time prosecutor only worked DUI cases, judges added more terms of court, and the Solicitor's Office set other cases aside from March to June.
"The main thing I think was that the judges were not, they refused to grant any continuances. They just said your case is scheduled, it's time to decide," Hembree explains. "Everybody pulled together and everybody was moving in the same direction, and even the defense bar once they saw that it was going this way, they got serious about negotiating. They got serious about moving the cases, and they put in the extra effort as well."
According to Hembree DUI cases are hard to prosecute. He would like to see those charged with the offense be allowed to enter a Pre Trial Intervention program.
"That's a very effective program. We get a very low recidivism rate for people that successfully complete PTI. The alternative is they plead guilty to DUI, pay their fine, and they go down the road."
DUI fines are hefty. If you're convicted, you can pay as much as $11,000 in attorney fees, fines, and insurance increases.
Hembree says the cases are now at a manageable number.
