S 787 Session 110 (1993-1994)
S 0787 General Bill, By H.S. Stilwell
A Bill to amend Article 13, Chapter 7, Title 14 of the Code of Laws of South
Carolina, 1976, relating to grand juries, by adding Section 14-7-1595, so as
to provide for empowering a county grand jury to investigate certain offenses
and giving the solicitor certain additional powers and authorities before a
county grand jury empowered to investigate those offenses.
05/19/93 Senate Introduced and read first time SJ-4
05/19/93 Senate Referred to Committee on Judiciary SJ-4
03/02/94 Senate Committee report: Favorable with amendment
Judiciary SJ-13
03/03/94 Senate Amended SJ-26
03/03/94 Senate Read second time SJ-26
03/03/94 Senate Ordered to third reading with notice of
amendments SJ-26
03/08/94 Senate Read third time and sent to House SJ-10
03/09/94 House Introduced and read first time HJ-7
03/09/94 House Referred to Committee on Judiciary HJ-7
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT ADOPTED
March 3, 1994
S. 787
Introduced by SENATOR Stilwell
S. Printed 3/3/94--S.
Read the first time May 19, 1993.
A BILL
TO AMEND ARTICLE 13, CHAPTER 7, TITLE 14 OF THE CODE
OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO GRAND
JURIES, BY ADDING SECTION 14-7-1595, SO AS TO PROVIDE
FOR EMPOWERING A COUNTY GRAND JURY TO INVESTIGATE
CERTAIN OFFENSES AND GIVING THE SOLICITOR CERTAIN
ADDITIONAL POWERS AND AUTHORITIES BEFORE A COUNTY
GRAND JURY EMPOWERED TO INVESTIGATE THOSE
OFFENSES.
Amend Title To Conform
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:
SECTION 1. Article 13, Chapter 7, Title 14 of the 1976 Code is
amended by adding:
"Section 14-7-1595. (A) For purposes of this section:
(1) `Clerk' means the clerk of court for common pleas or general
sessions court;
(2) `Public corruption' means any unlawful activity under color
of or in connection with any public office or employment of:
(a) any public official, public member, or public employee, or
the agent, servant, assignee, consultant, contractor, vendor, designee,
appointee, representative, or any other person of like relationship, by
whatever designation known, of any public official, public member, or
public employee under color of or in connection with any public office
or employment; or
(b) any candidate for public office or the agent, servant,
assignee, consultant, contractor, vendor, designee, appointee,
representative, or any other person of like relationship, by whatever
name known, of any candidate for public office;
(3) `Solicitor' also includes:
(a) the solicitor or his designee or designees;
(b) the solicitor and his designee or designees.
(B) The provisions of this section apply only if a county grand jury
is empowered to investigate the following offenses:
(1) crimes involving narcotics, dangerous drugs, or controlled
substances, or any crime arising out of or in connection with a crime
involving narcotics, dangerous drugs, or controlled substances,
including, but not limited to, money laundering as specified in Section
44-53-475, obstruction of justice, perjury or subornation of perjury, and
crimes involving obscenity or any attempt, aiding, abetting, solicitation,
or conspiracy to commit any of the aforementioned crimes;
(2) `white collar' crimes or nonviolent crimes by corporations or
individuals including theft or fraud and other violations of trust
committed in the course of the offender's occupation or profession,
including, but not limited to, embezzlement, price fixing, or antitrust
violations;
(3) any crime, statutory, common law or other, involving public
corruption; any crime, statutory, common law or other, arising out of or
in connection with a crime involving public corruption; and any attempt,
aiding, abetting, solicitation, or conspiracy to commit any crime,
statutory, common law or other, involving public corruption;
(4) crimes involving the election laws, including, but not limited
to, those named offenses as specified in Title 7, or any common law
crimes involving the election laws where not superseded, or any crime
arising out of or in connection with the election laws, or any attempt,
aiding, abetting, solicitation, or conspiracy to commit a crime involving
the election laws;
(5) crimes involving the waters, ambient air, soil or land, or both
soil and land, including, but not limited to, the State Safe Drinking
Water Act, the Pollution Control Act, the Infectious Waste Management
Act, the Hazardous Waste Management Act, the Solid Waste Policy and
Management Act, the State Underground Petroleum Response Act, and
the Atomic Energy Response Act, or offenses involving the environment
which are specified in Titles 13, 44, and 48 of the 1976 Code, or any
common law crimes involving environmental laws not superseded, or
any crime arising out of or in connection with environmental law, or an
attempt, aiding, abetting, solicitation, or conspiracy to commit a crime
involving the environment.
(C) The solicitor may petition in writing to the chief administrative
judge of the judicial circuit for an order empowering a county grand jury
to investigate the offenses listed in subsection (B). This judge is referred
to in this section as the empowering judge. The petition must allege the
type of offenses to be inquired into and in all instances must specify that
the public interest is served by the empowerment.
(D) The empowering judge, after due consideration of the petition,
may order the empowerment of a county grand jury in accordance with
the petition.
(E) The chief administrative judge of the circuit wherein a county
grand jury empowered under this section is sitting shall preside over that
county grand jury during his tenure as chief administrative judge. The
successor chief administrative judge shall assume all duties and
responsibilities with regard to any county grand jury empowered before
his term, including, but not limited to, presiding over the county grand
jury and ruling on petitions to extend its term. This judge is referred to
in this section as the presiding judge.
(F) The presiding judge may discharge a county grand jury
empowered under this section prior to the end of its original term or any
extension thereof, upon a determination that its business has been
completed or upon the request of the solicitor.
(G) If, at any time within the original term of any county grand jury
empowered under this section or any extension thereof, the presiding
judge determines that the county grand jury is not conducting
investigative activity within its jurisdiction or proper investigative
activity, the presiding judge may limit the investigation so that the
investigation conforms with the jurisdiction of the county grand jury and
existing law or he may discharge the county grand jury. An order issued
pursuant to this subsection or under subsection (F) shall not become
effective less than ten days after the date on which it is issued and actual
notice given to the solicitor and the foreman of the county grand jury
empowered under this section, and may be appealed by the solicitor to
the Supreme Court. If an appeal from the order is made, the county
grand jury empowered under this section, except as is otherwise ordered
by the Supreme Court, shall continue to exercise its powers pending
disposition of the appeal.
(H) The solicitor shall attend sessions of a county grand jury
empowered under this section and shall serve as its legal advisor. The
solicitor shall examine witnesses, present evidence, and draft
indictments and reports upon the direction of a county grand jury
empowered under this section.
(I) The clerk, upon the request of the solicitor, shall issue subpoenas
or subpoenas duces tecum to compel individuals, documents, or other
materials to be brought from anywhere in this State to a county grand
jury empowered under this section. In addition, a county grand jury
empowered under this section may proceed in the same manner as
provided by the subpoena rules of the South Carolina Rules of Civil
Procedure and Sections 19-9-10 through 19-9-130, except where either
is inconsistent with the provisions of this section; provided the subpoena
rules of the South Carolina Rules of Civil Procedure and Sections
19-9-10 through 19-9-130 are not considered a limitation upon this
section, but supplemental thereto. The subpoenas and subpoenas duces
tecum may be for investigative purposes and for the retention of
documents or other materials so subpoenaed for proper criminal
proceedings. Any law enforcement officer with appropriate jurisdiction
is empowered to serve these subpoenas and subpoenas duces tecum and
receive these documents and other materials for return to a county grand
jury empowered under this section. Any person violating a subpoena or
subpoena duces tecum issued pursuant to this section, or who fails to
fully answer all questions put to him before proceedings of a county
grand jury where the response thereto is not privileged or otherwise
protected by law, including the granting of immunity as authorized by
subsection (K), may be punished by the presiding judge for contempt.
To this end, where the violation or failure to answer is alleged to have
occurred, the solicitor may petition the presiding judge to compel
compliance by the person alleged to have committed the violation or
who has failed to answer. If the presiding judge considers compliance
is warranted, he may order this compliance and may punish the
individual for contempt where the compliance does not occur. The clerk
also may issue subpoenas and subpoenas duces tecum to compel
individuals, documents, or other materials to be brought from anywhere
in this State to the trial of any indictment returned by a county grand
jury or the trial of any civil forfeiture action arising out of an
investigation conducted by a county grand jury empowered under this
section.
(J) A court reporter shall record, either stenographically or by use
of an electronic recording device, all proceedings except when a county
grand jury empowered under this section is deliberating or voting.
Subject to the same substantive conditions and limitations contained in
Section 14-7-1720(A) and (D) and Rule 5, South Carolina Rules of
Criminal Procedure, a defendant has the right to review and to reproduce
the stenographically or electronically recorded materials. Transcripts of
the recorded testimony or proceedings must be made when requested by
the solicitor. Subject to the same substantive conditions and limitations
contained in Section 14-7-1720(A) and (D) and Rule 5, South Carolina
Rules of Criminal Procedure, a copy of the transcript of the recorded
testimony or proceedings requested by the solicitor shall be provided to
the defendant by the court reporter, upon request, at the transcript rate
established by the Office of Court Administration. An unintentional
failure of any recording to reproduce all or any portion of the testimony
or proceedings does not affect the validity of the prosecution. The
recording or reporter's notes or any transcript prepared therefrom and all
books, papers, records, correspondence, or other documents produced
before a county grand jury must remain in the custody and control of the
solicitor unless otherwise ordered by the court in a particular case.
(K) If any person asks to be excused from testifying before a county
grand jury empowered under this section or from producing any books,
papers, records, correspondence, or other documents before a county
grand jury on the grounds that the testimony or evidence required of him
may tend to incriminate him or subject him to any penalty or forfeiture
and is notwithstanding directed by the presiding judge to give the
testimony or produce the evidence, he must comply with this direction,
but he must not thereafter be prosecuted or subjected to a penalty or
forfeiture for or on account of any transaction, matter, or thing
concerning which he may testify or produce evidence pursuant thereto,
and no testimony so given or evidence produced may be received against
him in any criminal action, criminal investigation, or criminal
proceeding. No individual testifying or producing evidence or
documents is exempt from prosecution or punishment for any perjury
committed by him while so testifying, and the testimony or evidence
given or produced is admissible against him upon any criminal action,
criminal investigation, or criminal proceeding concerning this perjury;
provided that any individual may execute, acknowledge, and file a
statement with the appropriate court expressly waiving immunity or
privilege in respect to any transaction, matter, or thing specified in the
statement and thereupon the testimony of the person or the evidence in
relation to the transaction, matter, or thing may be received or produced
before any judge or justice, court, tribunal, grand jury, or otherwise, and
if so received or produced, the individual is not entitled to any immunity
or privilege on account of any testimony he may give or evidence
produced.
(L) Any additional expenses caused by the empowering of a county
grand jury under the provisions of this section which would not normally
be paid for out of county funds must be paid for out of the solicitor's
existing budget.
(M) A solicitor shall not grant immunity as provided in subsection (K) unless it is first approved in writing by the Attorney
General."
SECTION 2. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.
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