Secondly, during periods of restricted face-to-face interaction due to COVID-19, there were multiple examples of courts adjusting to teleconferencing to keep progress going, just as in so many other sectors. Courts should adopt the best advances that were discovered during this time. One application could be to have nurses or toxicologists appea r in hearings over “Zoom” to verify chain of custody for blood draws instead of inconveniencing them to appear in person. In fact, an inability to produce those individuals in court sometimes leads to cases having to be pled down. Ideally, the courts could issue a rule authorizing this. Finally, similar to the concept above, South Carolina can improve on its use of technology in obtaining search warrants quickly and efficiently from summary court judges for felony DUI crashes to get a blood draw. Why must face to face practices continue when everyone would benefit from a more convenient solution using technology. There are certainly many parts of the country that are using software where the officer can enter the needed information from their vehicle where a magistrate can then review and sign it from their home. Nationally, we often hear of these practices but rarely hear of this in our state. In addition, some states use this approach to obtain search warrants even for misdemeanor DUI arrests when the person refuses, and a relatively recent advisory opinion from the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office stated there is no reason it can’t be done here. That is certainly a “tough on DUI” approach that appeals to us because every instance of impaired driving is serious.
Sanctions
To this point, we have discussed primarily the outcome of the DUI cases monitored rather than the penalties issued to those convicted. The question of what is the penalty for a DUI in South Carolina is not a simple one to answer as the sanctions are tiered based on the BAC of the offender and the number of prior offenses.
The tables below summarize DUI penalties in the most efficient manner possible.
FIRST OFFENSE:
Refusals and BACs below 0.10%
BACs from 0.10% Through 0.15%
BACs of 0.16% and above
Mandatory minimum: 48 hours in jail; or 48 hours Public Service; or $400 fine
Mandatory minimum: 72 hours in jail; or 72 hours Public Service; or $500 fine
Mandatory minimum: 30 days in jail; or 30 days Public Service; or $1,000 fine
Up to a maximum of 30 days in jail
Up to a maximum of 30 days in jail
Up to a maximum of 90 days in jail
** New provision under §56-5-2930 (K) provides for magistrates court jurisdiction for all DUI charges carrying a maximum penalty of 90 days or less.
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