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Some South Carolina magistrates are throwing out drunken-driving cases because the drivers were on mopeds, which are exempt from SC motor-vehicle laws.

But Wednesday, a state Senate committee approved a bill that would reclassify mopeds as a motor vehicle in terms of enforcing drinking-and-driving laws only.

You don’t need a driver’s license to drive a moped in South Carolina, making it a popular choice for drunken-driving offenders with suspended licenses. In the Senate version of the bill, DUI offenders with suspended licenses still could drive mopeds. But they would no longer be exempt from state drunken-driving laws.

The bill, originally sponsored by state Reps. Eddie Tallon and Derham Cole, both Spartanburg Republicans, passed the SC House last year. That version of the proposal would have considered a moped to be a motor vehicle in all aspects of the law.

State law defines a moped as having a motor of less than 50-cubic centimeters and not capable of going faster than 30 miles per hour.

http://www.thestate.com/2012/02/16/2154803/bill-would-end-dui-exemption-for.html#RSS=local

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A bill introduced in the S.C. House would give police, prosecutors and sheriffs broad freedom to keep secret any and all crimes and arrests from the public, critics say.

“This goes a long way in creating a secret police operation in South Carolina,” said Jay Bender, a Columbia lawyer and USC media law professor who has for decades argued open government cases in courts. He represents numerous media organizations, including The State Media Company.

Supporters of the bill, including sponsor Rep. Chris Murphy, R-Dorchester, say Bender exaggerates the impact of the measure, which if passed would amend the state’s existing Freedom of Information law.

“For him to say this will cause a police state, that is a stretch,” Murphy said. He described his bill as “narrowly tailored” to allow law enforcement to more easily deny an FOI request to make public sensitive pretrial information about crime victims, witnesses and ongoing investigations.

The specific language in Murphy’s bill says law officials would be able to withhold any “information to be used in a prospective law enforcement action or criminal prosecution.”

http://www.thestate.com/2012/02/16/2154788/should-crime-details-be-kept-from.html#RSS=local

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A coalition of sports and environmental groups wants Batesburg-Leesville to stop looking at increased sewage disposal in the Edisto River.

Their demand comes as town leaders stick with the river as one option under consideration.

Leaders of the Sierra Club and Palmetto Paddlers say the idea jeopardizes recreation on a river that is one of the most pristine in South Carolina.

David Hutchens of Lexington, a leader of both groups, said their position is “nothing else dumped in the river,” no matter how well town leaders say anti-pollution efforts work.

The demand comes as town leaders search for ways to satisfy groups skeptical of its plan to expand wastewater disposal.

http://www.thestate.com/2012/02/16/2154799/groups-oppose-batesburg-leesville.html#RSS=local

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Richland County deputies were shot at while trying to execute a search warrant on Broad River Road Thursday afternoon.

Richland County Sheriff’s Department spokesperson Curtis Wilson said that narcotics agents were shot at when they tried to seach an apartment in the Brook Pine apartment complex in the 7000 block of Broad River Road about 6 p.m. They knocked on the door three times, Wilson said, and went into the apartment when no one answered. A suspect inside shot at the deputies, who fired back, Wilson said. Wilson said Frederick Withers II. 25, was arrested in the incident and is charged with attempted murder and drug charges. He was shot in the lowere body, but no one else was injured in the incident. He is being treated at Palmetto Health Richland.

―R. Darren Price

http://www.thestate.com/2012/02/16/2156237/deputies-involved-in-shootout.html#RSS=local

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Richland County deputies were shot at while trying to execute a search warrant on Broad River Road Thursday afternoon.

Richland County Sheriff’s Department spokesperson Curtis Wilson said that narcotics agents were shot at when they tried to seach an apartment in the Brook Pine apartment complex in the 7000 block of Broad River Road about 6 p.m. They knocked on the door three times, Wilson said, and went into the apartment when no one answered. A suspect inside shot at the deputies, who fired back, Wilson said. Wilson said Frederick Withers II. 25, was arrested in the incident and is charged with attempted murder and drug charges. He was shot in the lowere body, but no one else was injured in the incident. He is being treated at Palmetto Health Richland.

―R. Darren Price

http://www.thestate.com/2012/02/16/2156237/deputies-involved-in-shootout.html#RSS=local

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Richland County deputies were shot at while trying to execute a search warrant on Broad River Road Thursday afternoon.

Richland County Sheriff’s Department spokesperson Curtis Wilson said that narcotics agents were shot at when they tried to seach an apartment in the Brook Pine apartment complex in the 7000 block of Broad River Road about 6 p.m. They knocked on the door three times, Wilson said, and went into the apartment when no one answered. A suspect inside shot at the deputies, who fired back, Wilson said. Wilson said Frederick Withers II. 25, was arrested in the incident and is charged with attempted murder and drug charges. He was shot in the lowere body, but no one else was injured in the incident. He is being treated at Palmetto Health Richland.

―R. Darren Price

http://www.thestate.com/2012/02/16/2156237/deputies-involved-in-shootout.html#RSS=local

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Some South Carolina magistrates are throwing out drunken-driving cases because the drivers were on mopeds, which are exempt from SC motor-vehicle laws.

But Wednesday, a state Senate committee approved a bill that would reclassify mopeds as a motor vehicle in terms of enforcing drinking-and-driving laws only.

You don’t need a driver’s license to drive a moped in South Carolina, making it a popular choice for drunken-driving offenders with suspended licenses. In the Senate version of the bill, DUI offenders with suspended licenses still could drive mopeds. But they would no longer be exempt from state drunken-driving laws.

The bill, originally sponsored by state Reps. Eddie Tallon and Derham Cole, both Spartanburg Republicans, passed the SC House last year. That version of the proposal would have considered a moped to be a motor vehicle in all aspects of the law.

State law defines a moped as having a motor of less than 50-cubic centimeters and not capable of going faster than 30 miles per hour.

http://www.thestate.com/2012/02/16/2154803/bill-would-end-dui-exemption-for.html#RSS=local

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

A bill introduced in the S.C. House would give police, prosecutors and sheriffs broad freedom to keep secret any and all crimes and arrests from the public, critics say.

“This goes a long way in creating a secret police operation in South Carolina,” said Jay Bender, a Columbia lawyer and USC media law professor who has for decades argued open government cases in courts. He represents numerous media organizations, including The State Media Company.

Supporters of the bill, including sponsor Rep. Chris Murphy, R-Dorchester, say Bender exaggerates the impact of the measure, which if passed would amend the state’s existing Freedom of Information law.

“For him to say this will cause a police state, that is a stretch,” Murphy said. He described his bill as “narrowly tailored” to allow law enforcement to more easily deny an FOI request to make public sensitive pretrial information about crime victims, witnesses and ongoing investigations.

The specific language in Murphy’s bill says law officials would be able to withhold any “information to be used in a prospective law enforcement action or criminal prosecution.”

http://www.thestate.com/2012/02/16/2154788/should-crime-details-be-kept-from.html#RSS=local

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Attorney General Alan Wilson and several top law enforcement chiefs Wednesday unveiled a list of 10 legislative priorities they said they will work to pass by the session’s end in June.

The priorities – mostly nuts-and-bolts criminal matters – address issues that have been percolating in the General Assembly for years but have so far failed to pass.

One, for example, would give prosecution and defense lawyers an equal number of strikes against potential jurors. Currently, defense lawyers have twice as many jury strikes as prosecutors for serious crimes such as murder and armed robbery.

The joint law enforcement lobbying effort was said by Wilson to be the first ever in the state. Different agencies have tended to go their own way and lobby lawmakers for narrow interests, Wilson said.

“There are so many things we agree on – it’s so important that we speak with one voice,” Wilson said.

http://www.thestate.com/2012/02/16/2154804/law-enforcement-chiefs-reveal.html#RSS=local

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