Legal Question in Criminal Law in South Carolina

In the state of SC, my son was charged with burglary the 1st, which was drop to 3rd. When he was 1st arrest, and was given a court date, the courts was unable to processcute him in that court house due to their was relatives working at court house which was related to both parties(victim & supect). They transferred case to another county so that my son case could be heard. 6 yrs later he was arrest again for same charge, and was sentence of this charge in the same county they refused to hold court their before, due to family members. I guess what i'm trying to ask was that a conflict of intreset? And if so what can be done to resolve this matter?


Asked on 10/26/09, 12:41 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Robert Johnston Law Offices of Robert J. Johnston

First of all, please recognize that there is a difference between a conflict of interest and a potential conflict of interest. What I mean is, just because there is a potential conflict doesn't necessarily mean that there was any bias or unfair treatment of your son's case. In order to fully advise you, I would need very specific details as to who was who. I would need to know who the relatives were and exactly what their jobs were at the court house. Then I would need to know exactly who they were related to..............the judge, the prosecutor, victims, witnesses, etc. Then I would need to know what sort of relationship they had. Cousins, brothers, aunts, etc.

Lastly, I would need to know what the sentence was, if he had a trial or plead guilty, what the sentence was, his criminal record, etc., in order to try and determine if he was treated unfairly.

I would also need to know if any sort of a potential conflict was waived on the record. That is where it is explained on the court record what the potential conflict is and the defendant waives it. Which means that he knows the potential conflict and doesn't think its significant and wants to go forward.

Make sense?

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Answered on 10/31/09, 3:41 pm


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