One of the most common, and less serious, criminal charges in South Carolina is Public Disorderly Conduct. We receive a lot of calls from people who have been charged with PDC as it’s known, who have questions about what they should do. This article will try to explain the standard information and advice we have for people who are charged with this offense. But even though this is a relatively minor offense, as in most legal matters, it does get a little complicated.
What Is the Law?
Public Disorderly Conduct (“PDC”), is a criminal charge. This is where the government is alleging that someone has broken the law, and deserves to be sanctioned by the criminal justice system. There is a South Carolina state law for PDC, S.C. Code § 16-17-530. It makes it illegal to:
- Be on a road, public place or public gathering in a grossly intoxicated condition or conducting themselves in a disorderly or boisterous manner;
- Use obscene or profane language on the road or in any public place or within hearing distance of a school or church;
- Discharge a firearm while intoxicated.
The maximum penalty is up to thirty days in jail, or a fine of approximately $50-$237. PDC charges are heard in either a county magistrate court, or a city or town’s municipal court.
While the state statute is the most common way disorderly conduct is charged, almost every county and city in South Carolina has their own local ordinance they also call disorderly conduct. These local ordinances may cover the same conduct, and attempt to even broaden the regulated conduct. Local ordinances also almost always have a significant higher fine than the statute, sometimes as high as $2,000. You know if your charge is under the state statute if it references the state law “16-17-530” on the ticket. Most local ordinances are written with either only one “-“ or even a “.” such as 10-83 or 10.83 (that is just a made-up example, actual ordinances numbers would be different).
Why Should You Care if you are Charged with PDC?
PDC is not that serious of a criminal offense, in fact it’s likely the most minor criminal charge under South Carolina law. However, this does not mean that you should not care about the charge.
All arrests and criminal convictions are reported to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (“SLED”), and included on official government criminal record reports (called RAP sheets). This means that if you are charged with PDC and are convicted, by either pleading guilty, no-contest, or being found guilty by the court, this will go on your record.
Many employers, or screenings requiring a background check, will obtain and review your criminal record. A conviction for PDC, while relatively minor, might disqualify you or at least make you less competitive for a job, professional licensing opportunity, or housing.
This is not necessarily a big deal for someone who already has other criminal convictions, especially if they are more serious like drug possession, shoplifting, or domestic violence. But there can be a massive difference in outcomes from background checks for someone with absolutely no criminal record compared to someone with a single offense, even if its just PDC. I can also tell you that a PDC conviction can also sometimes be a significant hurdle to having a prosecutor later agree to reduce or dismiss other types of criminal charges later on, such as a DUI.
This record, and how it might impact your eligibility later is the main reason why someone should care about a PDC charge.
Opportunities for Favorable Outcomes
One of the good things about PDC is that South Carolina law, at least for those charged under the state statute, is the possibility of resolving the charge through what is called a conditional discharge.
This resolution, usually made by a pre-trial agreement with the prosecutor, allows a PDC conviction to be vacated and expunged from someone’s record after a short period of time, usually 3-6 months. The only two criminal charges in SC eligible for a conditional discharge are PDC and Simple Possession of Marijuana.
A conditional discharge, is usually a preferable outcome than simply enrolling in the pre-trial diversion program (“PTI”). This is because PTI is more expensive, takes longer, has more requirements, and is only available once in your lifetime. A conditional discharge on the other hand may only involve a small court fee, and the only requirement might be just not getting arrested again during that 3-6 month period. Judges do have the authority to impose more requirements, so it’s normally a good idea to check with your specific court to make sure you know what will be expected.
The PDC conditional discharge can also be used to resole other types of charges. For example, if a charge for another offense was amended or re-written to disorderly conduct it could then be resolved with a conditional discharge. This is something to consider for a variety of magistrate or municipal court case types including DV 3rd, shoplifting, or even a DUI where there was no evidence of driving and a Graves defense.
Beyond the conditional discharge and PTI, there are other possible resolutions. For example, younger individuals may be able to have a charge referred into the Alcohol Education Program (“AEP”). This program, while like PTI, does not “burn” your PTI, and is designed to educate younger individuals on the risks associated with alcohol or drug abuse.
Can a PDC just be dismissed?
Almost everyone who contacts us lets us know that their goal for their PDC charge is to just have it dismissed. While this is possible in any case, it’s important to understand how a dismissal can be obtained. There are only a few possible resolutions for any criminal charge, including PDC, that will result in a dismissal:
- The prosecutor, who is typically the police officer who charged you, simply agrees to just dismiss or drop the charge. This means that the officer, prior to a trial, has decided to drop it. Sometimes this does happen, and it never hurts to ask. When we are representing a client with a PDC charge we regularly ask if they will simply dismiss the charge. Sometimes they will, and sometimes they will not.
- Completion of a conditional discharge, PTI or AEP program. Completion of one of these will result in the charge being dismissed, and removed from your record.
- PDC, like any other criminal charge, can be contested in court. Normally the best chance comes with asking for a jury trial. Sometimes police officers who were not willing to drop a PDC just by asking, will eventually give-up and dismiss before having to spend the time it takes to go through a jury trial. In other situations, especially when people were charged with PDC when there was not enough evidence, or under false or unfair circumstances, may have a reasonable chance at being found not-guilty.
It is important to understand that everyone charged with PDC, regardless of circumstances, has an absolute right to fully contest the charge in court. The same legal and defense procedures that apply in other criminal charges are available to help you fight the charge. There can be legal defenses as well in certain cases, such as first amendment based defenses if the PDC is based solely on language used, or challenges to whether or not conduct was actually "public" when someone is arrested on their own property.
Special Legal Issues with Ordinance Cases
I know that the articles on this website are routinely read by judges and lawyers around South Carolina, who are trying to educate themselves on the law. For that audience I will try to point out a few issues that may arise. If you are someone just charged with PDC looking for information you don’t necessarily have to worry about understanding all of this, your lawyer should be able to help you.
- Local ordinances are not all written the same. Many are broader than the state law. In some situations, they are so overly broad that they may be too vague to be valid. The South Carolina Supreme Court has invalidated PDC ordinances before for this reason. But that does not mean that ordinances with the same issues of vagueness are not still on the books and being used by various counties or municipalities. If someone is charged under a local ordinance, it’s a good idea to look it is wording for possible issues. You can sometimes search the exact language in the ordinance in a SC case law database and find “hits” where there are opinions directly on point.
- Local ordinances are not necessarily eligible for a conditional discharge (at least under state law). Many times, to obtain a conditional discharge, the local ordnance ticket needs to be re-written or at least amended to the state statute.
- Local ordinances can be pre-empted by the state statute. If a local ordinance carries a higher possible fine than the state law (and most all of them do), there can be an argument made that the ordinance is pre-empted by the state statute. While this might not be enough to get the case dismissed, it might be enough to have the court “cap” the fine at the reduced state law maximum rather than risk having the case appealed and ultimately having their whole ordinances invalidated later by a higher court.
About Law Office of James R. Snell, Jr., LLC
The Law office of James R. Snell, Jr., LLC, has been representing clients charged with criminal matters, including disorderly conduct, for over 20 years. We regularly represent clients charged in Columbia, SC, and Lexington, SC with this offense.
To contact us about your case call (803) 359-3301.