CONWAY, S.C. (WBTW) – The Horry County solicitor’s office moves thousands of cases through the system every year, many of those cases take up to two years. Solicitor Jimmy Richardson wants to put an end to lengthy cases when it’s unnecessary.
Every year in Horry County there are more than eight thousand felony warrants served and all of those have to be moved through the system. The county is required to handle 80% of their cases within the first year but there’s quite a few that are more than a year and a half old.
Just a few weeks ago there were two major crimes in the county. The first was the bank robbery in North Myrtle Beach that sent police on a chase. Suspects fired shots at the officers during the chase before they were taken in. The second was an armed robbery in Loris where a clerk was shot and killed.
In both of these cases, solicitor Jimmy Richardson says they have strong evidence and it’s a very straight forward case. He said there is no reason at all cases like this should sit in the system for more than just a few months and now is the time they’re doing something about it.
“There’s a method to the madness. There’s a reason for that. It is to disrupt the idea that a case has to get 18 months old before it can be tried. It’s to keep defendants and defense attorneys off edge of saying you know, I’ll just wait and then I will plea at the last minute.”
Richardson told News13 defense attorneys are in the habit of buying their client time when they know they want a plea deal the entire time. He said he hopes their new system will change the game of attorneys doing that.
“Everyone should be in agreement with getting a fast trial so that is what we are going to do with a few of these cases to mix it up so people cannot say just wait a while just wait a while. When you hit that fast track it should be hold on for the ride and then it’s over and done with and you’re either walking out or you’re going to jail for thirty or 40 years.”
