People should be able to go about their daily lives without fear of unwarranted interference. But a police officer stopping you without a valid reason can disrupt your day and infringe upon your privacy, so it’s important to know what the law says about such situations.
Understanding what’s known...
As you drive home after a night on the town in Spartanburg, you feel a bit tipsy and as though you should not be driving, but you reason that you can get home quickly without being pulled over. Then, you see the telltale lights and signs alerting you to a DUI Checkpoint...
There is only a month left before Christmas time is here once again. This means that stores and businesses will soon be jam-packed with shoppers purchasing food, toys, and gifts they need to make the season as merry and bright as possible — but also as quickly as possible.
Both the U.S. and South Carolina Constitutions protect people from unreasonable searches and seizures, requiring the police to have a search warrant reviewed and signed by a judge to comply with these protections in many situations. Be that as it may, the police can occasionally conduct a search without a warrant.
The Constitution of the State of South Carolina guarantees bail for non-violent offenders, and throughout the state’s history, it has expanded that assurance by creating a statutory right to bail for all non-capital offenses. Equally importantly, that statute creates a presumption that favors release on recognizance (OR) without...
South Carolina has an unusual murder statute, as it does not define separate murder charges; in fact, the state law never uses terms like “capital murder,” “first-degree murder,” or “second-degree murder.”
Nevertheless, the statute defines three punishment levels for murder, which roughly correspond to the punishments other states associate...
In most of the U.S. — 38 states plus Washington, D.C. — medical marijuana is legal. Washington, D.C., and 23 states allow the use of recreational marijuana.
South Carolina is one of only 12 states that does not allow either medical or recreational use of cannabis. Worse yet, South...
If you supplied another person with drugs that led to an overdose death, it’s possible that a South Carolina court will bring criminal homicide charges against you. This can occur even in cases where you shared your drugs for free, not expecting payment for them.
Fortunately, an experienced
Child custody hearings are notoriously contentious, but they sometimes cross the boundary between civil matters and criminal charges.
In some cases of custodial interference, criminal charges are justified because one parent attempts to keep the other from access to the child. In other cases, one...
You have been pulled over by Spartanburg law enforcement for speeding — so it catches you off guard when the officer asks if they can search your car. For many law-abiding drivers, the thought of police searching through their cars as part of a routine traffic stop is unsettling.
