Legal Question in Civil Litigation in South Carolina

By way of introduction, I'm a criminal defense attorney in the Myrtle Beach area of Horry County and accept criminal cases state-wide.

You've asked an intelligent question and I can appreicate your concern. There is a lot that could be written in this response, as your question involves quite a number of complicated legal issues. But I'll make my response relatively brief and to the point, and will also make myself available should you have any further questions and want to call or email. I'm happy talking to you and I don't charge for those types of consultations.

I don't know if you have ever noticed it before, but nearly every news report, whether on TV, radio, newspaper, Internet, etc., will always use certain words such as "alledged" & "suspected of" & "accused of," etc. They always do that to protect themselves from civil actions based on exactly what your inquiring about. In other words, they always word the reports so that they are not making any sort of a conclusion that a person is guilty.

I have not seen the news reports on your situation so I am not in a position to comment on it. But the chances are very strong that they used one of the above examples to protect themselves from any sort of a law suit, such as slander.

The best and strongest defense to an accusation of slander, is the truth. That means that if "A" makes a public remark about "B" and that remark is harmful to "B's" reputation, then "B" might have a potential law suit against "A" based on slander. In that situation, "A's" best defense to such a law suit would be that whatever "A" said was the truth. That would defeat such a lawsuit, as slander must involve an untruthful remark.

In your situation, you would need to go back and personally view the news reports and see if they said that you were suspected of, or accused of, or alledged, etc. Or, if they came right out and said you were guilty. Obviously then, if they simply said you were "accused of", then there would be no slander since you were in fact "accused of" and that would make it a truthful remark.

Then to take the analysis a step further, if you should find out that they did in fact state that you were guilty of a certain crime, then you would have to wait until the outcome of the criminal charges have been completely resolved before deciding on any form of a civil action. There are numerous ways that a criminal case can be resolved. Most of the public is only aware of going to trial. But the truth of the matter is that there is about a dozen different ways that a criminal case can be concluded. If in the end you were found guilty of what the news report said you did, then you would not have any legal recourse against them, since what they stated was the truth. On the other hand, if you were found not-guilty of the charge(s), then that is an entirely different matter and you may very well at that point have a viable law suit against the news agency and/or the police. There are also different legal considerations suing the police versus suing a news agency.

The best thing you can do at this point in time is to focus your time and energy on the criminal charges. That is key to your entire situation. I have counseled many people over the years on situations just like yours. My advise is to be quiet about any potential law suits you may be interested in bringing. Its imperative that you focus on the criminal charge(s) and get a favorable conclusion before you can properly and effectively pursue and civil action against the police or news agencies. Its also very much in your best interest to stay as quiet as possible about that. Otherwise, if you voice your intentions to bring a law suit, then all your doing is giving them more reason and incentive to prosecute you. Remember, the best defense to a slander suit is the truth.

I hope you find this explanation useful. I did my best to keep this brief, but its hard since there are so many considerations in these matters. I should also tell you that I didn't receive your inquiry until today. There is a lag time of several days when submitting a question through this web site. However, if you email me directly, I'll receive the email immediately and can respond right away.

If your interested in discussing legal defense of your charge(s), I'm happy to talk with you. I've been doing this for 18 years and I only practice criminal defense. I travel a lot and accept cases on a state-wide basis. Your calls and/or emails are welcome.

Robert J. Johnston, Attorney

Phone: 843-946-0099

Email: [email protected]