When it comes to a crime, all crimes including federal state and misdemeanor crimes are held to a high proof standard. The prosecutor in the case has the burden of proof and must prove the person who is charged with a crime guilty “beyond a reasonable doubt.”  This is very high standard but the standard is so high that it often times affords the defendant a great opportunity to fight the charges and win. The strategy that a lawyer chooses to follow will have a significant impact upon the defendant’s ability to win or lose a case at trial. The defense attorney must also possess significant negotiation skills and know when is the right time to take a case to trial or reduce or eliminate a charge at each stage of the criminal process. It is important to obtain the right criminal defense attorney and law firm to represent you as early as possible in the process to ensure the best outcome.

The lawyers at The Woods Law Firm are skilled in trial , negotiation and have the experience and tenacity to put forth a great defense. We believe in outstanding results and we strive each day to put our clients and their case goals first in everything that we do.

In America, you should understand that you are completely innocent until proven guilty and it is the prosecution’s burden to PROVE you guilty of a crime, not your burden to prove yourself innocent. In fact, just because you are arrested that does not necessarily mean that you are necessarily going to be convicted of that crime after you have been to court and been given the due process of law. Since 1996, our criminal lawyers have represented thousands of clients in their court cases. We take the time to investigate each criminal law case fully and find options that work for our clients in order to get their cases reduced, dismissed or taken to trial. We are trial lawyers and constantly in the courtroom. In cases where we feel the client has been treated unfairly by the law, we take those cases to trial to ensure that justice is on their side. Remember, you have rights. Especially, the right to an attorney and the right to a truly fair trial.

There are generally 9 stages to a criminal case. The charges of Burglary, DUI, Armed Robbery, Possession with Intent to Distribute, and Possession of a Firearm are different types of criminal cases. While the actual details may vary from charge to charge, these are generally the 9 steps that criminal cases go through in the State of South Carolina. If you or a loved one is charged with a crime is very important to know what you are facing, below are our 9 Steps to A Criminal Case, review and if you have any questions, please feel free to call us at 864-810-0384 for a FREE Phone Consultation.

THE 9 STEPS TO A CRIMINAL CASE: THE PROCESS REVEALED

1st Step: ARREST

This means that you are arrested for a particular crime. You are then read their rights, including the right to remain silent, use it and ask for your lawyer. If you are arrested you will actually be placed in handcuffs and transported “somewhere” to detention center. That “somewhere” is the second place.

2nd Step: JAIL

You are transported to a jail or detention facility. You’re fingerprinted. You’re photographed. The image of being given a number to hold in front of you is the more traditional way that people sort of think about being booked in at the jail. It’s actually more expansive than that, You are fingerprinted, photographed and you have a number that you hold in front of you and you get the displeasure of having your face posted up online and the whole world knows that you’ve been arrested. Usually, those “mugshots” are put into an online catalog called mugshots.com, Booked, Jailbirds or some other less than flattering publication. Companies then place the image into one of several publications that publish mugshots of people and lists what crimes they have been charged with near their name.  This can also include your date of birth and address so that anyone who searches you can find it. We all know that it’s embarrassing and it’s frustrating for the person who is arrested. However, it can be embarrassing for their family too and may even result in the loss of your job and some important business and personal relationships. Most people want to avoid this step and want to never set foot back into a jail again.

3rd Step: BOND/BAIL

A bond or bail is an amount of money that you pay to the court, or a bondsman to be released. Bail is where you have to that amount to be able to get out of jail in the hopes and the promise that you’ll come back and defend your case in court or complete your case.  A bondsman will typically charge anywhere from 10 to 15 percent of the face amount of the bond as their fee to “sign” your bond for you. If you don’t come back to court, they will take it personally and come get you! There money is on the line and they will make a point of finding you.

4th Step: ARRAIGNMENT

An arraignment is a court proceeding where you have a criminal charge against you and they bring you before the judge and he or she says, “We have this criminal charge against you. How do you want to proceed? Do you plead guilty or not guilty and do you want to challenge it?” And of course you challenge it. You challenge it with a lawyer. It is not wise to plead guilty at an arraignment and most jurisdictions won’t let you. This proceeding is handled by the lawyer and the client says very little at this stage. Use your right to remain silent and let your lawyer speak for you at this stage.

5th Step: PRELIMINARY HEARING

This is a very important and often overlooked step in any criminal case. After you’ve been arrested you only have “10 DAYS” to request this hearing in South Carolina.  This is why it is important to consult with a lawyer as soon as you get out of jail, because this time limit is very strict. A good lawyer will request your hearing for you and preserve your right to this hearing immediately. This request is usually sent with the lawyer’s letter of representation and discovery (evidence) request package to the prosecutor or the officer.  At the preliminary hearing, the only question is whether or not there was probable cause to find that they should have stopped you in the first place. If you are were in a car and driving or if you were stopped on the street and arrested, they should have had a legal reason to stop you and that is that is to say that they should have had “probable cause” to believe that you’re committing a crime.
The state, through the officer’s testimony, must establish that there was probable cause for the arrest for the case against you to continue to proceed forward.

6th Step:  PRETRIAL CONFERENCE

This is the next step in the process. This is the opportunity to see if the case can be worked out before a trial date is set. Specifically, at the pretrial conference the lawyer has a chance to talk to the officer, to the prosecutor and also to the judge, in many instances. in this crucial court proceeding, it is determined whether or not the case will be going forward with a trial or a plea. If there are any negotiations for a lesser charge or sentence, it will first happen at this conference.

7th Step:  BENCH OR JURY TRIAL

We have a “jury trial” for a reason and that reason is to preserve justice.  If you don’t end up working it out on a plea, then you end up with a bench trial (trial in front of a judge only) or a jury trial. At that jury trial, there will be 6 jurors in a magistrate or municipal (little court) court case or 12 jurors in a general sessions (big court) case who are supposed to be fair and impartial jurors. A juror is supposed to hear all of the evidence presented by the attorneys and the prosecutors and to decide your fate. It is their collective and unanimous decision on whether or not you will only be found guilty or not guilty that determines your outcome. This is where the skill and experience of your attorney is best utilized and a where a good attorney can truly help you.

8th Step: SENTENCING

This is where your fate is decided.  The sentencing is not done by jurors; they just decide whether they believe you are guilty or not guilty, that is, whether or not they believe that you committed the crime or not. The sentencing phase is done by the judge. The judge, himself, or herself, will be able to say that, “Based on the jury finding you guilty, your sentence is X.”  The sentence they impose is within their own discretion within the range of acceptable sentences provided by law, including probation or immediate jail time.  If, however, you are found not guilty,  then the judge will allow you to walk away a free man or woman and the case is over.

9th Step: APPEAL

If you lose your case you have the right to an appeal. That is that you’ve been found guilty of a particular crime. You did not get to walk away free and be found not guilty. Usually, this would be the end of it, but if you’ve been found guilty of a particular crime you may decide to appeal the jury’s verdict at trial or appeal the sentence of the judge. In most jurisdictions, you have only 10 to 30 days to be able to appeal that conviction, depending on which jurisdiction you’re in, or to appeal the jury trial’s result, depending on what the jurisdiction you’re in. The appeal itself is a completely separate court case and can take months or years to resolve. During this time the person will remain in jail or may in rare cases will be granted an appeal bond and allowed to be out of jail pending an appeal, usually with electronic monitoring such as an ankle bracelet with a GPS fastened to their leg to ensure that the court knows where they are at all times. These are the general stage of a criminal case.  The attorney you choose helps you navigate this legal minefield to get the best result. So choose your attorney carefully. They have your life and your freedom in their hands. We take your life seriously and work hard to defend you. Call us at 864-298-8111 or contact us for a free consultation and find out how we can help you.

By Freddy Woods, Esq.

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If you are even a light or social drinker, most adults who frequent bars must at least internally admit that they have driven while impaired at some point in their lives. Many people do it on the weekends and mistakenly believe that they are “ok” to drive, but how do you know? The legal limit is a .08 in South Carolina, but most drivers don’t know what constitutes a high or low BAC level or what goes into the calculation.  The purpose of this article is to give you some insight on how a blood alcohol concentration rating is calculated in simple terms and what it takes to be .08 or legally drunk in South Carolina. Also, another purpose of this article is let you know what happens when you get drunk and what happens inside your body before you are ever stopped by a police officer. To start, let’s answer some basic questions.

WHAT IS A BAC ANYWAY?

BAC refers to “Blood Alcohol Concentration” and it is a measurement used to determine impairment or to essentially figure out how drunk you are.  The amount of alcohol in a person’s body is calculated by determining the weight of the alcohol in a certain volume of blood. That weight is called BAC (Blood Alcohol Concentration).

WHAT DETERMINES OR AFFECTS MY BAC?

How high or how low your BAC is may be determined by a combination of contributing factors. The more you drink, the higher your BAC level. The faster you drink, the higher your BAC level. Generally, women get drunk faster than men who consume the same amount of alcohol because women generally have less water and more body fat than men. However, in terms of weight, the more you weigh, man or woman, the more water is present in your body. The water in your body dilutes the alcohol which lowers your BAC, so it takes more time for people who weigh more to get drunk than people who are skinny or weigh less. Also, if you have had something to eat, the food in your stomach will slow the rate of alcohol absorption and it will take longer for you to get drunk.

DOES ONE TYPE OF DRINK OR SHOT I TAKE GIVE ME A HIGHER BAC LEVEL THAN ANOTHER TYPE?

Actually no. Alcohol is Alcohol and the type of drink does not matter. The amount of alcohol consumed matters. A normal drink (from a bartender that does not have a heavy hand) is roughly half of an ounce of alcohol or .54 ounces. This is the same amount of alcohol found in one shot of liquor, one 12 ounce beer or one 5 ounce glass of wine. You may not have a good tolerance for tequila vs vodka but to the body, the alcohol is the same.

DO PERSCRIPTION DRUGS AFFECT MY BAC LEVEL?

Yes. The alcohol content for the BAC will not change but how you feel while on your medication will affect you driving and impair your ability to drive.  Therefore, people who are under certain medications may feel drowsy or sleepy and their driving may be adversely affected. Medications may also affect your clarity and impair your judgment which can lead to driving mistakes and alcohol-like symptoms which can lead an arresting officer to feel like you were drunk driving. Often times, while medications may be present in the bloodstream, the BAC level may be 0.00 and not show the presence of the medication unless a blood test is administered. The DUI legal statute says that impairment is based upon drugs and/or alcohol so you can still be charged with a DUI.

HOW DO I KNOW IF I AM TOO DRUNK TO DRIVE?

There are many things which interact to affect your BAC level. The easiest answer is anytime you are drinking you do not need to drive because you potentially represent a danger to yourself and others on the road. So the easy answer is, don’t drink and drive. It is important to know that even a little bit of alcohol may cause you to drive impaired and even though you may feel fine and ok, your ability to know if you are okay is substantially diminished. The only thing a person may know is that they feel a buzz, but driving buzzed is driving drunk so don’t drink and drive.

SO HOW MUCH ALCOHOL IS THERE IN A PARTICULAR TYPE OF DRINK?

There are many reports that are done by universities and hospitals which can tell you in exhaustive detail what should happen at a certain BAC level. In South Carolina, the most detailed report I can find currently was done by Clemson University and published through their Redfern Health Center. There are differences between women and men and the effect that alcohol has on them. There are also differences in how a person responds to alcohol, some people become violent or uncontrollable, while others become subdued or sleepy. This chart, prepared by Clemson University, shows what the average BAC levels are for men and women based upon their body weight after a certain number of drinks over a period of hours:

According to Clemson University and other published reports, certain ounces of a particular beer or spirit equal certain amounts of alcohol. The alcohol is the agent that gets you drunk. Here is their guide below:

Factors that determine BAC

• • Number of standard drinks (see below)

• • Amount of time in which drinks are consumed

• • Body weight

• • Gender

• • Food (to a much lesser extent)

One standard drink = 1/2 ounce of ethyl alcohol

• • One 12 oz. regular beer (4.5 percent alcohol) = .54 oz.

• • One 7 oz. malt liquor (7 percent alcohol) = .49 oz.

• • One 4.5 oz. glass of wine (12 percent alcohol) = .54 oz.

• • One jigger (1.25 oz.) of 80-proof liquor (40 percent alcohol) = .50 oz.

• • One-third jigger (.5 oz.) of Everclear (95 percent alcohol) = .48 oz.

More than one standard drink > 1/2 ounce

• • One 16 oz. cup of beer = .72 oz. = 1.4 drinks

• • One 40 oz. beer = 1.8 oz. = 3.6 drinks

• • One 22 oz. malt liquor = 1.5 oz. = 3 drinks

• • One 12 oz. glass of wine = 1.4 oz. = 2.9 drinks

• • One 12 oz. margarita = 2-4 drinks, depending on ingredients

• One 12 oz. cup of trashcan punch = 4-10 drinks, depending on ingredients

(Credit: Clemson University)

HOW DRUNK DO I GET OVER TIME?

The human body is like a sponge when it comes to alcohol. The longer you leave a sponge in liquid, the more liquid is soaked up.  The same is true for alcohol in your body. Also, over time, a smaller portion of the alcohol evaporates or in the case of the body is diluted causing a small drop in the BAC level as the hours go by.  Remember that the general rule is that the heavier you are, the more water that you have in your body so the longer it takes for you to get drunk. Also, men and women process alcohol differently in their bodies.  

THE ART AND SCIENCE OF GETTING DRUNK

It really doesn’t take a lot for your body to be affected by alcohol and cause you to make a bad decision and drive impaired. There is actually a science to what happens when you get drunk. Again, there is an exhausting amount of information on the subject and science of intoxication.

In layman’s terms, when you drink a drink it passes your lips and goes down into the esophagus, through the stomach and into the small intestine.  The bloodstream then distributes the alcohol throughout the body where it is partially absorbed. The part that is not absorbed, aka “metabolized” is disseminated throughout the body causing you to feel buzzed and eventually drunk. The liver then kickstarts the process to remove the toxic alcohol and what it cannot remove starts being present in your sweat,  breath and urine. The kidneys then start to work moving liquids to your bladder which causes it to fill up and give you the urge to urinate quickly, causing dehydration in the process by taking water from the brain and vital organs, which also gives you a pounding headache and an awful hangover. When you finally wake up after going to sleep or passing out you feel as if you have been sucking on cotton balls in the desert, promising yourself that you will never do that again, unless of course the weekend comes before never arrives.

In conclusion, we have learned some very important things today, like don’t drink and drive, you can get drunk really quickly and its never worth it the next morning.   The costs far outweigh the benefits of that nice drink if you plan to drive afterward. If you have had anything to drink, before you drive, call UBER, a taxicab or have a friend on speed dial under the heading “ I’m Drunk.”  If you ignore this sage advice and dangerously try to go it alone and those proverbial “only two beers” that you have cause you to see blue lights and America’s best officer in your rearview mirror, pull over and relax, for at least now you know what is happening inside your body. Be personable, use your right to respectfully refuse all tests, including the breath test and roadside field sobriety tests and exercise your constitutional right to remain silent. When you get to make a phone call from jail, call us, we will take it from here.

(Part 2 in this series is “What to do when you are stopped by an officer and suspected of drunk driving). We have other articles published on our website at www.thewoodsfirm.com or at www.dui-trafficlawyer.com Thanks for reading and call us at 864-8100-DUI if you have any questions or need help with a case, we are happy to help.

(Attorney Freddy Woods is an accomplished criminal defense and personal injury attorney with over 20 years experience based in South Carolina. He has appeared on TV and radio and writes for a number of publications. Mr. Woods regularly speaks and lectures on the subjects of DUI, the criminal justice system, auto accidents and personal injury litigation. Visit his website at www.thewoodsfirm.com or call his office at 864-298-8111 or 864-8100-DUI if you need assistance with a legal matter in the State of South Carolina.)

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