2003-2004 Bill 3136: Solicitors to Provide Certain Information in Death Penalty Cases To

1 South Carolina General Assembly 2 115th Session, 2003-2004 3 4 H. 3136 5 6 STATUS INFORMATION 7 8 General Bill 9 Sponsors: Reps. G.M. Smith and W.D. Smith 10 Document Path: l:\council\bills\swb\5054cm03.doc 11 Companion/Similar bill(s): 3092 12 13 Introduced in the House on January 14, 2003 14 Currently residing in the House Committee on Judiciary 15 16 Summary: Solicitors to provide certain information in death penalty cases to Office of Indigent Defense, 17 OID to maintain information 18 19 20 HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS 21 22 Date Body Action Description with journal page number 23 12/4/2002 House Prefiled 24 12/4/2002 House Referred to Committee on Judiciary 25 1/14/2003 House Introduced and read first time HJ-58 26 1/14/2003 House Referred to Committee on Judiciary HJ-58 27 28 29 VERSIONS OF THIS BILL 30 31 12/4/2002 32 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A BILL 10 11 TO AMEND SECTION 16-3-26, AS AMENDED, CODE OF 12 LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO 13 PUNISHMENT FOR MURDER AND NOTICES TO DEFENSE 14 ATTORNEYS OF A SOLICITOR’S INTENT TO SEEK THE 15 DEATH PENALTY, SO AS TO PROVIDE THAT WHEN A 16 SOLICITOR GIVES A DEFENSE ATTORNEY NOTICE THAT 17 HE INTENDS TO SEEK THE DEATH PENALTY, HE ALSO 18 MUST PROVIDE THIS NOTICE TO THE COMMISSION ON 19 INDIGENT DEFENSE; AND BY ADDING SECTION 17-3-40 20 SO AS TO PROVIDE THAT A SOLICITOR MUST PROVIDE 21 NOTICE OF HIS INTENTION TO SEEK THE DEATH 22 PENALTY IN CERTAIN CASES TO THE COMMISSION ON 23 INDIGENT DEFENSE WHICH MUST MAINTAIN RECORDS 24 AND STATISTICS REGARDING THIS INFORMATION. 25 26 Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South 27 Carolina: 28 29 SECTION 1. Section 16-3-26(A) of the 1976 Code, as last 30 amended by Act 458 of 1996, is further amended to read: 31 32 “(A) (1) Whenever the solicitor seeks the death penalty he shall 33 notify the defense attorney of his intention to seek such the death 34 penalty at least thirty days prior to the trial of the case. At the 35 request of the defense attorney, the defense attorney shall be 36 excused from all other trial duties ten days prior to the term of 37 court in which the trial is to be held. 38 (2) When a solicitor gives a defense attorney notice of intent 39 to seek the death penalty, he also must provide a copy of the notice 40 of intent to seek the death penalty to the Commission on Indigent 41 Defense. If not contained in his notice, the solicitor notifying the 42 commission of his intent to seek the death penalty in a death

1 [3136] 1 1 penalty case must simultaneously provide the commission with the 2 information required by Section 14 - 29 - 10.” 3 4 SECTION 2. Chapter 3, Title 17 of the 1976 Code is amended by 5 adding: 6 7 “Section 17-3-340. (A) When a solicitor gives a defense 8 attorney notice of the solicitor’s intent to seek the death penalty as 9 required under Section 16-3-26, the solicitor also must provide a 10 copy of his notice of intent to seek the death penalty to the 11 Commission on Indigent Defense. 12 (B) The solicitor’s notice to the commission also must include 13 the date notice is made, the alleged crime, the date the alleged 14 crime occurred, the county in which the alleged crime occurred, 15 demographic information about the victim, and the person or 16 persons charged with the crime, including their age, race, sex, and 17 ethnic background. 18 (C) The commission must use data provided by the solicitors to 19 maintain records and statistics regarding the basic information 20 submitted by the solicitors. 21 (D) The commission must compile, collate, index, and maintain 22 a file of the information required by subsection (B). The file must 23 be available to the general public during the normal business hours 24 of the commission. 25 (E) If a person desires to question the accuracy or completeness 26 of information submitted by the solicitor to the commission, he 27 may submit a written request to the commission. The request must 28 include a statement of the alleged inaccuracy or incompleteness, 29 and must specify any proof or corroboration available. Upon 30 receipt of the request, the commission must, within sixty days of 31 receipt of a written request for clarification, review its information 32 and forward the results of the review to the person requesting the 33 review. 34 (F) If the commission concurs in the allegations of inaccuracy 35 or incompleteness, it must correct the record, and the commission 36 shall inform the individual of its correction of any error in the 37 record under this subdivision within sixty days. 38 (G) If the commission denies the allegations of inaccuracy or 39 incompleteness in the record, the matter may at the option of the 40 applicant be referred for administrative adjudication in accordance 41 with the rules of the local governing body. 42 (H) Nothing in this section, nor the failure of a solicitor to 43 notify the commission of his intent to seek the death penalty or to

1 [3136] 2 1 supply the commission with information required by this section, 2 nor the failure of the commission or any other person to comply 3 with this section, may be taken or construed to confer a benefit or 4 defense upon a defendant charged with a criminal offense in this 5 State.” 6 7 SECTION 3. All proceedings and all rights and liabilities 8 existing, acquired, or accrued at the time this act takes effect are 9 saved. The provisions of this act applies prospectively to crimes 10 and offenses committed on or after the effective date of this act. 11 12 SECTION 4. This act takes effect upon approval by the 13 Governor. 14 ----XX---- 15

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