Legal Question in Criminal Law in South Carolina

Normally when someone asks me what the sentence is for a criminal charge, I am able to give them a short and to the point answer. Unfortunately, the potential sentence for someone convicted of First Degree Burglary is confusing.

Please understand that no lawyer can tell you what the sentence on a particular case would be without knowing a lot different information. Every case is different and every sentence varies depending on the evidence, the victims, the circumstances of what happened, the person's record, age, family, and so on and so on.

All I can do is tell you what the statute says. And even telling you that is confusing. In order to really understand it, you would need to have a lawyer explain it. Here is why. The statute says that First Degree Burglary carries up life in prison. It then says that there is a 15 year minimum. The big problem here is that a person needs to know what is referred to as "statutory interpretation." That means that there are certain rules that you must follow in order to perfectly understand each statute. With this particular statute, the 15 year minimum does not automatically apply. Also, you will very seldom ever see anyone actually get life in jail

I'm sorry I cannot give you a straight and easy to understand answer. This is just one of those statutes that requires a lawyer to apply it to a specific case and explain it. If the person you are asking about has a case in Horry or Georgetown Counties, I would be happy to consult with them, as those are the counties I practice criminal defense in. I actually will take any case in the State of South Carolina, but I usually have to charge a little bit more money for traveling if it is quite a long distance.

I can be emailed directly at [email protected]

Robert J. Johnston

843-946-0099