Charleston County DUI Court Process

Demanding a jury trial is a real strategic weapon in a Charleston County DUI case, not just a formality. A bench trial moves fast and tends to favor conviction, but requesting a jury forces the court to summon six jurors, which drags out the timeline and pressures the state's resources — especially in a system where the arresting officer often has to prosecute the case alone. That pressure regularly produces favorable plea offers down to Reckless Driving or DUAC just to keep the docket moving.

Which court hears a case depends on who made the arrest. Charges from municipal officers go to Charleston Municipal Court at 180 B Lockwood Boulevard, under Chief Judge Thomas P. Morrison, who handles a heavy volume of tourist- and college-related DUI cases. Everything else lands in the Charleston County Magistrates/Summary Courts system at 4045 Bridge View Drive, with filing hours 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. weekdays. Chief Magistrate JoAnna Summey-Hayes presides over the Centralized Preliminary Hearing Court, where a magistrate decides whether probable cause existed for the arrest — defendants can't testify or present evidence at that stage. Magistrates Amanda Haselden and Marcedes Smith run the daily Bond Hearing Court, and Magistrate Lauren Fox handles cases specifically originating within Charleston's city limits.

South Carolina law flatly bans Pre-Trial Intervention for DUI or DUAC charges, no exceptions. Charleston County does run an Adult Drug Court at 100 Broad Street for non-violent offenders with a documented substance abuse dependency, but it's a serious commitment: a minimum of 15 months, a guilty plea entered upfront and held in abeyance, and five treatment phases to complete.

Security varies sharply by building, which trips up a lot of defendants. At the federal courthouse, phones are allowed inside but get locked in a "Yondr Pouch" at the door — you keep the device on you, it just can't be used until you're back outside. The Magistrate and Summary Courts take the opposite approach: an absolute ban on phones, pagers, or anything that makes noise, with no lockers to store them, so anyone relying on a rideshare app to get to court needs another way to leave, too. The dress code bans hats, tank tops, shorts, and flip-flops, and getting turned away for it can turn into a bench warrant for missing your court date. Parking adds its own friction if the case lands at the historic Judicial Center on Broad Street rather than the Bridge View Drive building — street meters cap out at two hours, well short of a typical docket, so plan on the paid garages on Queen Street or Cumberland Street instead.

Sources

• Magistrates/Summary Courts — Charleston County
• Municipal Court — City of Charleston
• Adult Drug Court — Charleston County Probate Court
• Parking Information — City of Charleston
• Public Index Search — Charleston County