Legal Question in Criminal Law in South Carolina

I'm very sorry for your troubles. I'm a criminal defense attorney in Myrtle Beach here in Horry County. As a criminal defense attorney I come accross situations like this all the time and I know how difficult this can be. Even for a parent like yourself.

Your question was, "what can be done?"

There are a number of things that can be done. Before I explain them, please allow me to point something out. I am not positive, but I got the feeling from what you wrote, that you might be under the impression that by the paying the amount of the missing check, would negate any crime having been committed. In other words, you have pointed out several times that this guy was paid and therefore was not harmed by the missing check.

If that is in fact your understanding, then you are mistaken. It has no bearing on whether a crime was committed or not. Just because a person gets paid the amount of money that he would have received from the check, has no affect on whether or not a check was stolen.

Therefore, if someone stole the missing check, then a crime has been committed regardless of whether the guy recouped the money.

Please do not get the impression that I am insinuating that your son took the check. I am not. I have no idea what happened to the check.

Now, on to your question. As with any criminal case, your son is entitled to have a trial. Secondly, he can plead guilty. Thirdly, if he has no criminal record, then he would qualify for a program that is an alternative to prosecution which is called, Pre-Trial Intervention. It is a great program because when the person finishes it, the arrest record is expunged and there is no conviction on his record. Its like it never happened. That is something that I often get for my clients and when I represent a young person I hate to see them end up with any sort of a criminal record.

As far as the possibility of winning a trial, I cannot tell you that as I have a few questions that I would need to ask.

The last possibility is a Dismissal. I have had a lot of success on similar cases in getting with the prosecutor and explaining the whole sequence of events and often the prosecutor will in turn speak with the victim and they will agree to allow the case to be dropped. Based on what I know about this case, that would appear to be a distinct possibility, especially since the victim recieved his money and since the case is over two years old.

You are more than welcome to email me or call me if you have any other questions or would like to talk.

Robert Johnston, Attorney

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 843-946-0099