The Supreme Court of South Carolina

Re: Reconciliation of General Sessions Cases Statewide

ORDER

In the interest of having an accurate record of pending criminal cases statewide, we find the need to address the reconciliation process to confirm the inventory of outstanding General Sessions cases.

Pursuant to the provisions of Article V, §4, of the South Carolina Constitution,

IT IS ORDERED that each Circuit Solicitor shall reconcile all pending General Sessions cases attributable to each county in their circuit with the records maintained by the County Clerks of Court.  The Clerks shall provide to the Solicitors the most recent pending cases report from the County Statistics Self-Audit Portal and shall work with the Solicitors to reconcile the records and ensure that all case dispositions are accurately reported to the S.C. Judicial Department.  The General Sessions records for each county must be reconciled no later than February 4, 2013.  The Solicitors shall notify the Director of Court Administration of compliance with this Order and that the record of pending cases is accurate as of the date of reconciliation.  Thereafter, it is the ongoing responsibility of the Solicitors and Clerks to periodically reconcile General Sessions pending cases.

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Clerks of Court shall conduct monthly self-audits utilizing the County Statistics Self-Audit Portal to ensure that the records transmitted to the S.C. Judicial Department are accurate.  Verification of the monthly self-audit will be submitted to Court Administration for the court's review on an ongoing basis.

November 21, 2012
Columbia, South Carolina