Why Cases Get Pled Down
Rather than speculate or risk second-guessing those who know each case best, we would like to focus on the larger issues that lead to frequent pleading down to reckless driving, or other lesser charges, in our state. This discussion does not come directly from the court cases we monitored because the factor or factors that lead to a case being pled down rarely get mentioned in open court. Our court monitor will only hear, or see online, that a plea deal was worked out, but not why. Therefore, our discussions with our informed experts were key as we worked through a list of the primary factors for pleading down a DUI charge to a lesser charge. 1. South Carolina’s Dash Cam Video Recording Statute. By all accounts, South Carolina has the nation’s strictest l aw ( 56-5-2953 ) regarding the significance of in-car video (dash cam) footage to the prosecution of a DUI case. While dash cam footage of the arrest process is used in many states, South Carolina places unique emphasis on its presence and completeness to the extent that generally there cannot be a conviction without a video and even minor imperfections in the video can preclude getting a conviction, despite the presence of other strong evidence. In other words, an officer can witness and record erratic driving behavior, smell alcohol on the person, hear an admission to drinking and driving, and have their shoes vomited on, but if their dash cam video is lacking, the case likely will be thrown out or pled down to reckless driving. Video problems could include faulty video or audio, parts of the arrest process being unclear or obscured, or even just portions of the person’s body being assessed for impairment being out of frame for short moments. Many cases are lost when Miranda rights are heard being clearly read to the offender on the audio recording but that does not appear within the video frame. No other crime requires on-camera reading of Miranda. It should be noted that many DUI arrests take place late at night on the side of active roadways. It is very likely that many cases will have unclear video due to lights, glare, shadows, imperfect angles, and inevitable mechanical malfunctions. An officer conducting an investigation out of the car cannot be expected to have perfect knowledge of what is being recorded. While recent higher court rulings have moved toward a more reasonable standard, more needs to be done legislatively to correct this issue. 2. Officer Error and Inexperience. As described above, South Carolina puts an especially high burden on an officer arresting someone for DUI because of the exacting procedures required by law. However, it is the current law of the land, and many officers excel at making strong cases despite the obstacles. Officers that do not put all of their training to use in an investigation can often hurt the prosecution and necessitate a plea to a lesser charge. Even experienced, diligent officers sometimes neglect to fulfill every requirement of the DUI
20
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online