Rock Hill Criminal Defense Lawyer

Drug Crimes

South Carolina categorizes the most typical drug crimes into four basic types of charges, typically determined by the controlled substance involved and the amount or weight of the drug involved. These categories are possession, possession with intent to distribute and trafficking. When there is an allegation that someone sold a controlled substance, the typical charge is distribution. Some of the more common controlled substances involved in criminal drug charges I see in my practice include marijuana, cocaine, prescription drugs, methamphetamine, crack cocaine and fentanyl.

Penalties for drug offenses in South Carolina can be harsh, particularly for subsequent drug offenses and trafficking offenses. All trafficking offenses in South Carolina carry mandatory minimum prison sentences.

If charged with a drug offense in South Carolina, it’s important to have a defense attorney that understands the drug laws and how to best advocate for the client and develop the defense strategy most likely to result in the best outcome.

Domestic Violence

In South Carolina, domestic violence involves someone causing harm or injury to a household member or threatening or attempting to cause them harm or injury. Household members include spouses, former spouses, people who have a child together, and people of the opposite sex who live together or have lived together.

The seriousness of the charge and the potential penalties of an incident of domestic violence is determined by various factors that include the extent of injury, whether an order of protection is violated, whether a child observes the incident, whether the victim is pregnant and whether the defendant has any prior convictions for domestic violence.

There are four levels of domestic violence charges. The least serious is Domestic Violence in the third degree, which is a misdemeanor that carries a fine of up to $2,500.00 and/or up to 90 days in jail. Domestic Violence of a high and aggravated nature is the most serious domestic violence specific crime in South Carolina, and it is a felony, classified as a violent crime and carries up to twenty years in prison.

Gun rights can be seriously impacted for those committing acts of domestic violence.

If you or a family member has been charged with a domestic violence offense in South Carolina, it’s important to have a defense attorney that has experience handling these types of cases and knows how to best advocate for the client and select the defense strategy most likely to result in the best outcome.

Violent Crimes 

Violent crimes are most often thought of as those that involve acts of real physical violence resulting in serious injury. In South Carolina, violent crimes is a class of crimes that may or may not involve actual violence. For example, drug trafficking can be a violent crime but not involve anything more that possession of a controlled substance over a threshold amount.

Section 16-1-60, SC Code of Laws, lists those crimes defined as “violent crimes”. Under South Carolina law, a “violent crime” are those specific crimes listed in this statute that includes offenses such as murder (Section 16-3-10); attempted murder (Section 16-3-29); voluntary manslaughter (Section 16-3-50); armed robbery (Section 16-11-330(A)); attempted armed robbery (Section 16-11-330(B)); drug trafficking as defined in Section 44-53-370(e) and many others.

If a person is convicted of a "violent crime", this can affect parole eligibility, housing and privileges in the Department of Corrections and have other consequences, such as casing this person to now be subject to a serious gun charge if ever caught possessing a firearm.