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Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter
H. 4373
STATUS INFORMATION
General Bill
Sponsors: Rep. Crawford
Document Path: l:\council\bills\swb\5366cm08.doc
Introduced in the House on January 8, 2008
Currently residing in the House Committee on Judiciary
Summary: Driving with an unlawful alcohol concentration
HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS
Date Body Action Description with journal page number
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12/12/2007 House Prefiled
12/12/2007 House Referred to Committee on Judiciary
1/8/2008 House Introduced and read first time HJ-50
1/8/2008 House Referred to Committee on Judiciary HJ-51
View the latest legislative information at the LPITS web site
VERSIONS OF THIS BILL
TO AMEND SECTION 56-5-2933, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO THE OFFENSE OF DRIVING WITH AN UNLAWFUL ALCOHOL CONCENTRATION, SO AS TO DELETE THE PROVISIONS THAT RELATE TO THE PROSECUTION OF A PERSON CHARGED WITH THIS OFFENSE.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:
SECTION 1. Section 56-5-2933 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:
"Section 56-5-2933. It is unlawful for a person to drive a motor vehicle within this State while his alcohol concentration is eight one-hundredths of one percent or more. A person who violates the provisions of this section is guilty of the offense of Driving With An Unlawful Alcohol Concentration. A person may be charged for a violation of Section 56-5-2930 but prosecuted pursuant to this section if the original testing of the person's breath or collection of other bodily fluids was performed within two hours of the time of arrest and articulable suspicion existed to justify the traffic stop. This section does not apply to cases arising out of a stop at a traffic roadblock or driver's license checkpoint. A person shall not be prosecuted for both a violation of Section 56-5-2930 and a violation of this section for the same incident. A person who violates the provisions of this section is entitled to a jury trial and is afforded the right to challenge certain factors including, but not limited to, the following:
(1) whether or not the person was lawfully arrested or detained;
(2) whether or not articulable suspicion existed to justify the stop;
(3) the period of time between arrest and testing;
(4) whether or not the person was advised in writing of the rights enumerated in Section 56-5-2950;
(5) whether the person consented to taking a test pursuant to Section 56-5-2950, and the:
(a) reported alcohol concentration at the time of testing was eight one- hundredths of one percent or more;
(b) individual who administered the test or took samples was qualified pursuant to Section 56-5-2950;
(c) tests administered and samples obtained were conducted pursuant to Section 56-5-2950 and regulations adopted pursuant to Section 56-5-2951(Q) and Section 56-5-2953(F); and
(d) machine was working properly.
Nothing contained in this section prohibits the introduction of:
(1) the results of any additional tests of the person's breath or other bodily fluids;
(2) any evidence that may corroborate or question the validity of the breath or bodily fluid test result including, but not limited to:
(a) evidence of field sobriety tests;
(b) evidence of the amount of alcohol consumed by the person; and
(c) evidence of the person's driving;
(3) a videotape of the person's conduct at the incident site and breath testing site taken pursuant to Section 56-5-2953 which is subject to redaction under the South Carolina Rules of Evidence; or
(4) any other evidence of the state of a person's faculties to drive which would call into question the results of a breath or bodily fluid test.
At trial, a person charged with a violation of this section is entitled to a jury instruction stating that the factors enumerated above and the totality of the evidence produced at trial may be used by the jury to determine guilt or innocence.
A person charged with a violation of this section must be given notice of intent to prosecute under the provisions of this section at least fourteen days before his trial date."
SECTION 2. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.
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