South Carolina Lawyers Weekly

Jul 28, 2026

SC Supreme Court: Same standard applies to direct and circumstantial evidence

Juries should evaluate circumstantial evidence under the same reasonable doubt standard as direct evidence without additional instructions requiring the evidence to point conclusively to guilt. The South Carolina Supreme […]

Jul 24, 2026

SC Supreme Court: Prison sex assault claims must be tried individually

The South Carolina Supreme Court ruled that statewide class actions brought by inmates alleging they were sexually assaulted because prison officials failed to prevent abuse cannot proceed as certified because […]

Jul 14, 2026

Criminal Practice – Improper Jury Influence – Constitutional Right to a Fair Trial

Improper jury influence by Colleton County Clerk of Court Rebecca Hill deprived appellant Richard Alexander Murdaugh of his constitutional right to a fair trial before an impartial jury. The South […]

Jul 14, 2026

Criminal Practice – Admissibility of Scientific Evidence – Sexually Violent Predator Proceedings

Results from penile plethysmography (PPG) testing are generally inadmissible because the underlying science lacks sufficient reliability and standardization. At least in its current state, PPG evidence fails to satisfy South […]

Jul 14, 2026

Constitutional – Retroactive Amendment – Separation-of-Powers Principles

The South Carolina Supreme Court overruled decades of precedent and adopted a more functional approach to separation-of-powers principles under South Carolina law. The court reversed trial court rulings that had […]

Jul 14, 2026

Constitutional – Jury Polling – Reversible Error Per Se

A trial court’s refusal to individually poll jurors upon request constitutes reversible error per se, as individual juror polling serves as a critical procedural safeguard protecting a defendant’s constitutional right […]

Jul 6, 2026

Charleston County attorney reinstated

Jun 22, 2026

SC Supreme Court affirms denial of arbitration at Palmetto Bluff over unlawful limitations period

A Palmetto Bluff resort-community arbitration clause was unenforceable because the parties did not clearly delegate arbitrability issues to an arbitrator and the provision’s 60-day deadline for initiating arbitration unlawfully […]

Jun 16, 2026