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State v. Belviso6/1/2004
Elaine P. Belviso was arrested and charged with driving with an unlawful alcohol concentration and violating the open container law. The magistrate, relying on State v. Jackson, 302 S.C. 313, 396 S.E.2d 101 (1990), dismissed the open container charge because the State did not preserve the container or the alcoholic beverage. The magistrate also suppressed critical evidence relating to the charge of driving with an unlawful alcohol concentration.*fn1
The State appealed the magistrate's rulings and moved for a stay of further magistrate court proceedings pending resolution of the appeal. The magistrate's rulings effectively precluded prosecution of the State's case. The circuit court granted the motion for a stay.
The circuit court, relying exclusively on section 18-3-10 of the South Carolina Code of Laws, held it did not have jurisdiction to hear an interlocutory appeal from a magistrate's court. The circuit court dismissed the appeal. The State appeals.
DISCUSSION
We agree with the State that the circuit court has jurisdiction to entertain the State's appeal from the magistrate's pre-trial rulings that would preclude prosecution of the open container charge*fn2 and significantly impair the State's ability to proceed with the prosecution of the unlawful driving charge.*fn3
The circuit court relied exclusively on section 18-3-10 of the South Carolina Code of Laws (Supp. 2003) in ruling the circuit court did not have jurisdiction to hear the State's appeal. Section 18-3-10 provides: "Every person convicted before a magistrate of any offense whatever and sentenced may appeal from the sentence to the Court of Common Pleas for the county." The circuit court reasoned that because section 18-3-10 only permits appeals by those convicted and sentenced in magistrate's court, the circuit court has no authority to hear an appeal from magistrate's court prior to conviction and sentence.
The circuit court's narrow reliance on this statutory provision is misplaced, for in South Carolina, the State's right to appeal is defined by our judicial decisions, not statutory law. State v. McKnight, 353 S.C. 238, 238, 577 S.E.2d 456, 457 (2003). Because the State's right to appeal in criminal cases is a judicially created right, we turn to our judicial decisions, which uniformly support the circuit court's jurisdiction to hear the State's appeal in this matter. We begin with the settled principle that "[a] pre-trial order granting the suppression of evidence which significantly impairs the prosecution of a criminal case is directly appealable under S.C. Code Ann. § 14-3-330(2)(a) (1976)." State v. McKnight, 287 S.C. 167, 168, 337 S.E.2d 208, 209 (1985). Under McKnight, the State has the right to immediately appeal a trial court's suppression of evidence which significantly impairs the prosecution of the case. There is additional precedent refuting Belviso's position, adopted by the circuit court, that no appeal may be taken from a magistrate's court until a defendant is convicted and sentenced. In State v. Jansen, 305 S.C. 320, 408 S.E.2d 235 (1991), the magistrate suppressed evidence relating to a driving under the influence (DUI) charge. The State appealed to the circuit court and the circuit court affirmed. Id. at 321, 408 S.E.2d at 236. Although the appeal was interlocutory, the circuit court and the supreme court heard the appeal. State v. Whetstone, 333 S.C. 376, 510 S.E.2d 225 (Ct. App. 1998) also supports the circuit court's exercise of jurisdiction over the State's appeal from the magistrate's pre-trial rulings. The circuit court in Whetstone, as well as this court, heard the State's appeal from the magistrate court's dismissal of a charge. Id. at 377, 510 S.E.2d at 225-26. Si
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