Horry County DUI Court Process
Complete guide to arraignment, court dates, plea options, and what to expect during your DUIcase in Horry County.
Court Information
Horry County General Sessions Court
Court Process Timeline
Arraignment
First court appearance, typically within 24-48 hours after arrest.
What Happens:
- Judge reads charges against you
- You enter initial plea (usually Not Guilty)
- Bail is set or reviewed
- Next court date is scheduled
- Public defender appointed if needed
Pre-Trial Hearings
Multiple court dates over 2-6 months where your attorney negotiates with prosecutors.
Attorney Activities:
- Review police reports and evidence
- File motions to suppress evidence
- Challenge breathalyzer/blood test results
- Negotiate plea bargains
- Discuss diversion program eligibility
Plea Bargain or Trial
Most DUI cases (over 90%) resolve through plea bargaining, not trial.
Plea Bargain Benefits
- • Reduced charges
- • Lighter sentence
- • Certainty of outcome
- • Lower costs
Trial Risks
- • Maximum sentence if convicted
- • Higher legal fees
- • Uncertainty
- • Time consuming
Sentencing
Judge determines penalties based on the plea agreement or trial verdict. Sentences may include fines, probation, jail time, license suspension, IID, SCRAM monitoring, and/or DUI classes.
Top Rated Horry County DUI Attorneys
When facing a DUI charge in Horry County, finding local, experienced representation is critical. Below is our curated list of verified DUI defense attorneys serving Horry County, SC.
Amy S. Lawrence, Esq., Criminal Defense Attorney
★ 5.0 (100)Sutton Law Firm, PC
★ 5.0 (120)South Carolina Criminal Law
★ 5.0 (150)Greg McCollum Complete Legal Defense Team
★ 4.9 (128)Law Office Of Melinda Knowles, LLC
★ 4.9 (116)Don't Face This Alone
A DUI attorney can make the difference between a conviction and a dismissal, between jail time and probation. They know local judges, prosecutors, and can challenge evidence that you might not even know is challengeable.
Find Horry County DUI AttorneysFrequently Asked Questions
Horry County finalized just 31% of its DUI cases as convictions between January 2019 and March 2024, according to court-monitoring data compiled by Mothers Against Drunk Driving across 1,331 cases. Officer turnover is a big part of why. South Carolina requires the arresting officer to prosecute the case alone in magistrate-level trials, and demanding a jury trial pushes the timeline out significantly. If that officer resigns, transfers agencies, or simply doesn't show up on the eventual trial date, which happens often given regional turnover rates, the state loses its only witness and the case gets dismissed outright.
Standard first-offense DUIs arrested by the Highway Patrol or Horry County Police go to the Magistrate Court system at 1201 3rd Avenue in Conway. Demand a jury trial and the case shifts to the Magistrate Court Division of the Fifteenth Circuit Solicitor's Office. Repeat offenses or felony DUIs involving serious injury escalate to the Court of General Sessions. Hon. William Nathan Hutson presides over the Centralized Bond Court at the detention center, handling initial PR bond decisions. Standard magistrate dockets at the Conway courthouse run before Hon. Margie Bellamy Livingston and Hon. Bradley Dwyer Mayers, while Hon. Gerald Thomas Whitley Jr. handles the northern county's summary docket out of Little River.
Pre-Trial Intervention is active in Horry County, but South Carolina law flatly excludes standard DUI charges from it. The only way in is if defense counsel first negotiates the charge down to something eligible, like reckless driving; from there PTI requires 60 hours of community service, random drug screens, counseling, and a $350 fee, ending in dismissal and eligibility for expungement. The Alcohol Education Program and Traffic Education Program both exist locally too, but neither applies to a standard adult DUI — AEP is for underage drinking offenses only, and TEP statutorily excludes DUI entirely.
Leave your phone in the car. Courtrooms across the Fifteenth Circuit ban cell phones and pagers outright for anyone who isn't an attorney, and a device that makes noise during proceedings gets confiscated on the spot — getting it back means a trip to the District Court Clerk and a $25 penalty. Security itself is airport-style, with magnetometers and X-ray screening; anyone with a pacemaker or similar medical device should flag it for a hand-wand check instead. The dress code bans shorts, tank tops, flip-flops, and sweatpants, and requires men to wear long pants with shirts tucked in. Show up out of code and a judge can simply deny entry, which risks a failure-to-appear bench warrant on top of the original charge.