Facing South Carolina State Grand Jury Prosecution?

There are many important differences between a typical General Sessions and a State Grand Jury case:

• Your first contact with the system may be the receipt of a state grand jury subpoena. This means that you have been identified as either a potential suspect or someone with some knowledge pertaining to a criminal investigation.
• Most criminal defendants in South Carolina are arrested after a Magistrate judge issues an arrest warrant. The prosecutor’s office has usually not been involved in the case at all up to that point. Grand jury cases are different however. The prosecutor has been fully involved, meaning that by the time an arrest is made they are already very prepared.
• Because the arrest doesn’t occur until after an indictment has been issued, there is no right to a preliminary hearing (hearing to challenge probable cause).
• Bond may be set higher than in other cases, and the judges may be more willing to put additional restrictions on defendants than otherwise would be routinely assigned in a regular county bond court. This may include prohibitions on employment, travel, firearms possession, and limiting access to financial accounts.
• Pre-trial discovery rulings by the court may limit the defendant’s right to possess copies of the reports and other evidence documents turned over by the state (called discovery). Defendants may be required to review these materials only in their attorney’s office.
• There is a record of state grand jury proceedings (unlike regular grand jury proceedings which are basically secret). The record is normally transcribed by a court reporter, and those transcripts can be obtained by the defense.
• State grand jury cases are prosecuted by the Attorney General’s office, not the county solicitor. Different policies between those agencies may affect what defense strategies are employed, or what options there are to negotiate reductions in the severity of charges or sentencing.
• Significantly more or higher-caliber resources may be expended by the state in the investigation and prosecution of state grand jury cases. Top state investigators, along with experts in fields such as forensic accounting or sciences will be utilized by the prosecution instead of just relying on the limited personnel of the local police department.