CONWAY, SC (WBTW) – Horry County’s newly revived transfer court is helping the legal system save time and money.
The 15th Circuit Solicitor’s Office brought back the transfer court in April after about ten years.
Solicitor Jimmy Richardson says it’s already paying off.
“110 pleas took us about an hour-and-a-half, under two hours,” Richardson said. “So we can go through them a lot quicker simply by doing some work on the front end.”
Transfer court is for crimes carrying sentence of one year or less like drug offenses or fraud.
Groups of defendants are brought into Horry County court, or appear by video, once a month in front of a volunteer magistrate judge.
“All of their constitutional rights have been explained to them on paper,” said Richardson. “They will have signed that and there’s really no need to do any talking.”
Richardson says the cases are processed about seven times faster than before transfer court returned. He also says defense attorneys and defendants are willing to go through transfer court.
That means less time for defendants to wait in jail and less taxpayer money spent.
“It’s much less of a grind on the court system,” Richardson said. “It’s more of a grind for the solicitor’s office because the paperwork has got to be done ahead of time, but it’s well worth it.”
Richardson says Richland and Lexington counties also have transfer courts in South Carolina.