Lack of resident judges in Berkeley County causing slowdowns, solicitor says

BERKELEY COUNTY, S.C. (WCBD)- The wheels of justice are turning slowly in Berkeley County as courts grapple with a lack of resident judges.

“People need to understand that Berkeley County is no longer the sleepy South,” Ninth Circuit Solicitor Scarlett Wilson said. “It’s bustling in every way and unfortunately that means our criminal dockets are bustling as well.”

Each of South Carolina’s 16 judicial circuits must have at least one resident judge who has an office in the judge’s home county within the circuit.

In the Ninth Circuit, there are multiple resident judges in Charleston, but none in Berkeley County. This has been the case since Judge Markley Dennis, Jr. retired in 2019.

“The residency requirement is only for residents of the Ninth Circuit so the Charleston judges who are filling residents seats are residents of Charleston, not residents of Berkeley,” Wilson explained.

This has created challenges as criminal courts, including those in Berkeley County, deal with a growing backlog of cases as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to state officials, there are 1,289 pending charges — 87 murder cases and 51 sex crimes — that are more than three years old in the Ninth Circuit as of January.

With criminal cases piling up, the shortage is causing slowdowns across Berkeley County courtrooms and creating headaches for law enforcement, in some cases.

“Our Charleston judges who serve the Ninth Circuit are doing their best to keep Berkeley running but it’s a challenge and it affects us in many ways,” Wilson said. “In law enforcement where we need to get search warrants [and] arrests warrants signed, law enforcement from Berkeley County is having to go out of town, basically, to get warrants signed often.”

And while Wilson said judges are doing a “good job” ensuring the backlog doesn’t worsen, the impact is still felt.

“They’re absorbing it all over the state with judges being brought in,” Wilson said. “It’s just not the most efficient way to do it and not the most convenient way to do it.”

The absence of local judges has also put a strain on family court cases, particularly those involving juveniles. In South Carolina, family courts have jurisdiction over minors who are charged with criminal offenses.

“In family court where there are divorces, there are adoptions, there are restraining orders, there are criminal cases with juveniles and when they raised the age so that more people were being prosecuted in family court as juveniles versus as adults, those numbers really expanded,” Wilson said. “Having to have judges from Charleston, from Kingstree, from Johnsonville, come over to cover is really taxing.”

Judicial elections have emerged as a contentious issue as the state legislature weighs potential changes to the Judicial Merit Selection Commission (JMSC).

South Carolina is one of only two states that appoint its judges through the legislature. The 10-person JMSC screens candidates and then presents a pool of up to three qualified candidates to the General Assembly to be voted on.

Some argue the system gives unfair influence to lawyer-legislators who sit on the panel, allowing them to handpick the judges they appear in front of, thus undermining public confidence in the judicial process.

Wilson said the current process may be to blame for the residencies that Berkeley County lost, pointing to several instances where judges residing in Berkeley County were found unqualified or pressured to exit the race.

“Some of the residencies that we lost were because of gamesmanship at the JMSC and I think changing the JMSC in the way that they are appointed could make a difference and would make a difference in Berkeley County,” Wilson said.

“Our delegation has been fighting hard [and] working hard, but when you have games played in Columbia, it makes it difficult for everyone,” she continued.

To end the so-called “games” at the JMSC, state representatives are currently considering two different bills — a version recently passed by the Senate and the House’s own version — that would alter how the state chooses its judges.

In the meantime, the General Assembly will hold elections on April 17 to fill dozens of vacant judgeships throughout the state.

Wilson said she hopes this will alleviate some of the burden on other at-large and resident judges.

“Our system slowing down is an issue and I think it’s important, just like having prosecutors, who are from the area, because they know the culture and I think it’s healthy to have a judge who’s a resident and I hope in April we’ll get some.”