New Bond Reform Statute in SC

The new Bond Reform statute in SC is designed specifically to ensure that accused repeat violent offenders are kept in jail while they wait for their trial and increase their risk of getting more prison time if they’re out on bond and get convicted. To find out how the new bond reform may affect your situation, it’s in your best interest to discuss your case with a Conway criminal defense attorney right away.

Understanding The Changes to the SC Bond Reform Statute

The new Bond Reform statute in SC includes the following amendments:

• A new criminal charge if you commit a violent crime for a prior violent offense while you were out on bond or a pretrial release. This is a felony. That means that when you get convicted of the first offense and the new offense, you face prison time of up to five years.
• If the court orders your release after getting arrested again for a felony crime involving a firearm or another violent crime, you must pay the court cash or cash equivalents (securities that can be readily convertible to cash) before you can be released.
• The court will revoke your bond automatically for a prior felony offense involving a firearm or a violent crime if you are arrested again for a new equivalent offense while you were out due to a pretrial release or on bond. If you are charged with a new offense or your bond was revoked before your trial or plea, you will not be given credit for the time you served before your trial.
• When determining whether releasing you on bond is appropriate and the amount of bond you must pay in exchange for being released, the court must consider whether you are out on bond for a different crime.
• If the court finds that you are a threat to the victim and the public’s safety, you must wear an electronic monitoring device at all times instead of or as a requirement of bond release.

Overall, these new bond restrictions only favor rich offenders and are a disservice to offenders who do not have the funds to pay bonds in full cash or cash equivalents. The five-year imprisonment penalty also undermines people’s constitutional right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty.

Law enforcement can easily abuse this statute by increasing criminal charges for offenders in jail waiting for their trial. Prosecutors will also do everything they can to try both crimes simultaneously to inform jurors about a defendant’s previous, unconvicted offense to paint a grimmer picture of the defendant and secure a conviction for one or both offenses.

Get Legal Guidance From Our Seasoned Conway, SC, Criminal Defense Attorneys Now

If you get arrested for or charged with any crime in South Carolina, get in touch with our Conway, SC, criminal defense attorneys at the Law Offices of L. Morgan Martin, P.A. so we can begin building your defense strategy right away. You can reach us and schedule your free case review by calling our office at 843-248-3177 or filling out our online contact form.