These three videos from the Greg McCollum Complete Legal Defense Team cover what South Carolina law defines as criminal sexual conduct, whether bond is available for someone charged with this offense, and how police typically investigate these allegations from the initial report through the start of an arrest investigation.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Is Criminal Sexual Conduct in South Carolina?
Criminal sexual conduct in South Carolina is basically sexual assault. It’s a rape case. There are different degrees of criminal sexual conduct, the most serious being the degree of force used to perpetrate the sexual assault. The less serious ones are those where no force was used, but the person didn’t consent.
Usually, when they say they didn’t consent, it’s a circumstance where people have been drinking. Maybe a woman claims that she was drugged against her will or she was just too drunk to consent. Prosecutors will look at that and evaluate the blood alcohol level to determine whether or not they believe the person could consent. That is a significant factor in date rape cases.
There are various kinds of allegations, including stranger sexual assault, cases where the person knows the perpetrator, dating or bar encounter situations, and cases involving minors where someone is under the age of 16 and has sex with someone older.
Can You Get Bond If Charged With Sexual Assault in South Carolina?
Will you get a bond if you’re charged with sexual assault? You might get bond, you may not, depending on the circumstances. There are cases where somebody’s arrested, you see it on the news or you hear about it, and they’re charged with sexual assault and bond is denied. When bond is denied for somebody charged with sexual assault, the general public is usually very happy about it.
They’ll think, “that person should never get out of jail again,” because that’s the way people feel about it. So bonds are denied, and it’s a real concern on a sexual assault case because the judge can legally deny the bond if it’s a violent crime and depending on how high emotions are running, because a judge is a person too and they’re supposed to calmly apply the law to the facts and mechanically make consistent decisions.
But judges get emotional too and they get mad too, and so there are instances, depending on the facts, where bond is denied for somebody charged with a sexual assault, and as a human being and person in the community, you can kind of understand that. So it’s something to watch out for.
How Do Police Investigate Sexual Assault Cases in South Carolina?
Sexual assault cases are investigated when somebody makes a claim that they’ve been sexually assaulted. Presuming this is a woman who says she was sexually assaulted, they’re going to take her to the hospital and process her medically to see what evidence they have. They’re going to give her certain medications to treat her against a possible sexually transmitted disease. They’re going to gather samples from her body. They’re going to examine her.
They’re trying to find if there’s pubic hair from someone else. They’re going to look at whether the woman has visible bruising, and they’re going to photograph that. Does she have skin underneath her fingernails where she clawed somebody? Is she going to have defensive wounds? All of those things.
Then, after that, if they have a suspect, and in many cases the person who’s accused of sexually assaulting them is somebody who’s known to the police, known to witnesses, known to the victim of the sexual assault, they’re going to reach out to that person and try to talk to them.
They’re going to do that in general by just showing up and surprising them. Police don’t want you to know they’re coming. They want to catch you off guard and try to get you to make a statement to them. That’s going to be the basic part of the beginning of the arrest investigation.
Facing a criminal sexual conduct charge in South Carolina is a serious matter, and the person handling it matters. Greg McCollum brings more than 30 years of experience to these cases and previously worked as a prosecutor, giving him insight into how the state builds and evaluates cases like these. That background can make a meaningful difference in how a defense is approached from the earliest stages of an investigation through bond hearings and beyond.
If you have questions about criminal sexual conduct charges, call the Greg McCollum Complete Legal Defense Team at (843) 626-5480. Consultations are confidential.
