South Carolina Criminal Attorney Blog

The U.S. Supreme Court this week upheld a federal law that allows for officials to maintain custody of dangerous sex offenders after they have served out their criminal sentences. Federal officials can keep inmates incarcerated indefinitely if they are found to be "sexually dangerous."

The law in questions, called the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act from 2006, was overturned by a lower court decision that said Congress did not have the authority in passing it. Based on certain sex offenders that have been shown to be nearly impossible to rehabilitate once returning to society, the law was enacted as a measure to keep those judged to be likely to re-offend behind bars.

The issue before the court was whether the U.S. Constitution grants Congress the authority to pass this kind of law. The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Virginia ruled in 2009 that the Constitution did not provide such authority.

In South Carolina we have a preceding that is held prior to an inmate being released to determine if a person is still a danger. If the judge rules that the individual is in fact a danger, then they leave the courtroom and head right back to prison. This is a civil preceding that is prosecuted by the Attorney General's Office.

Another checkpoint was conducted by the Myrtle Beach Police last Tuesday. There are three more scheduled for this year's bike rally. The other ones will be during Memorial Day bike week.
This last one we not very eventfully, base on previous checkpoints. Only 23 citations were handed out. And of those, 16 were for violations regarding licenses and there was one equipment ticket. A few were for drugs and a couple outstanding warrants.

There is nothing unusual about having checkpoints while the bikers are in Myrtle Beach. Its become a common practice. Its interesting to note that with two new ordinances, one requiring bikers to wear helmets and the other for the bikes being too loud, neither one occurred at the checkpoint and no tickets were given out for those.

Quite a number of people are not happy with the checkpoints and actually think they do more harm than good. There is also a great deal of objection with the police targeting the bikers. They come here, they are by and large well behaved, they spend their money in our community, and then they get targeted by the police.

I wonder if they have checkpoints this week in Shallotte.

(843) 946-0099. Attorney Robert Johnston.
Myrtle Beach

Since I'm struggling to thing of thing to write about, I'm going to devote on post a month to stupid criminals. This month I'm beginning with a guy from Ohio named Art Price. Mr. Price apparently became quite fond of his picnic table. A table made of metal. He became so fond of his metal picnic table, that he had sexual intercourse with it out in his yard. Personally, I believe a man has a right to love a picnic table. However, there is a place and time for everything. Mr. Price seduced his favorite piece of lawn furniture in full view of an elementary school.
One of the neighbors fond this so interesting that he video taped Mr. Price. In fact, he video taped him on three separate occasions. Now, Ohio gets quite cold during the winter. Remember when you were a kid and you tried sticking your tongue to a metal object in the winter? I think I'll stop this thought here.
So what's the price of picnic table love? About six months I'd say. That is what Mr. Price received in a state prison.

The ACLU, American Civil Liberties Union, has filed a law suit arguing that the United States Constitution protects the people's right to sue profanity.

A number of these suits have been brought. In one, a lady in Luzerne County in northeast Pennsylvania received a citation that has a maximum penalty of 90 days in jail and a $300 fine after she hollered a word at a motorcyclist who she alleged swerved close to her.

In another case, the police actually arrested an incarcerated a man for disorderly conduct when he shouted an expletive (two words commonly used together) at a police officer what wrote him a parking ticket.

The ACLU says that there are approximately 750 people in Pennsylvania a year who are arrested or cited for using profanity. They also said that citations have been handed out in other states including Michigan and New York and that they have been successful in defending a dozen people in these profanity prosecutions.

Their main argument is that they do not feel that profanity fits into the U.S Supreme Court's definition of what profanity is and that it is protected speech. According to an ACLU spokes person, there is a difference between obscenity and profanity and that obscenity can be regulate and enforced whereas profanity cannot. Swearing is protected.

Search warrants are no longer required for the police to search people who are on probation and parole in South Carolina. What that means is this. Probation and Parole Officers have always had the right to search those who are on probation and parole. Now with the new law, the same authority that they have is now extended to police officers and sheriff's deputies. They now no longer need to go to a judge for a search warrant. This means that they can exercise this authority with someone on the street who is on probation or parole and they are allow to search them just like a probation or parole officer can.

Opponents are up in arms over this new law, argue an erosion of our constitution. Those who support it, say that this is an additional measure of safety and will greatly help against repeat offenders.

The police are not just restricted to those they see on the street. They can pull people over and search their cars. They can even search their personal possessions, for example purses. The new law does not allow the police to search their homes without a valid search warrant. One other catch is that inmates serving time must agree to this before they are let out on parole. If they don't, then they will be required to serve their full prison term.

One restriction on the police, is that they must have reasonable suspicion of some sort of wrongdoing before conducting such a search. The officer must first verify that the person is in fact on probation or parole. Violations of this procedure would subject the officer to discipline policies. That provision has been criticized for being too vague. Further arguments and more significant, are concerns of the law being susceptible to racial profiling and other abuse.

One of the arguments that are in favor of the new law, is that it will help in controlling those on probation and parole. South Carolina has approximately 16,000 police officers and sherrif's 's deputies. However, it only has 342 probation and parole agents throughout SC. That means that 342 agents are required to supervise about 44,000 people on probation and parole. There are even some counties with just a single agent. Here in Horry County and Myrtle Beach, we have a large number of police and sheriff deputies compared to the rest of the state. Nevertheless, there are still thousands of people in Horry County and Myrtle Beach that are on probation and parole.

Written by Attorney Robert J. Johnston. Free Consultation. 843-828-1137.