South Carolina Court Administration

South Carolina Supreme Court
Columbia, South Carolina

MEMORANDUM

The uniform traffic ticket (UTT) (S-438, revised 6-2014) has been amended so as to reformat the ticket into the six following sections: Violator, Vehicle, Trial Court, Violation, Arrest Officer, and Court Information. This change creates a more logical flow to the ticket and should make the ticket easier to complete by law enforcement, understand by the offender and complete by the trial court.

In addition to formatting, other changes were made to the UTT. Of particular note, while the amended ticket maintains a field for “Violation”, a field for “Charge Convicted Of” has been added to indicate on the ticket the charge pled to or convicted of if different from the original charge. Based on South Carolina case lawⁱ, a UTT may be amended to a lesser charge from the original offense charged only if the offense pled to or convicted of is a lesser included offense of the original charge. In that case, the lesser included offense pled to or convicted of would be so indicated in the “Charge Convicted Of” field. However, if the State is unable to prosecute the original offense charged, and the facts present in the case will sustain a plea or conviction to a lesser charge which is not a lesser included offense of the original charge, the UTT must be nolle prossed and another UTT written and served on the defendant charging the lesser charge.

Accordingly, the following traffic offenses may be reduced on the face of the newly revised UTT to the lesser included offenses indicated below.

• Speeding (§56-5-1520) reduced to a lesser speed range included in that statute.
• Driving under the influence (DUI) (§56-5-2930) from a higher tiered alcohol concentration level (BAC) to a lower tiered BAC level. Example: BAC level of sixteen one hundredths of one percent or more reduced to a BAC level of at least ten one hundredths of one percent but less than sixteen one hundredths of one percent.
• Driving with an unlawful alcohol concentration (DUAC) (§56-5-2933) from a higher tiered BAC level to a lower tiered BAC level. Example: same as above relating to §56-5-2930.
• Driving under suspension (DUS), not as a result of a DUI/felony DUI suspension (§56-1-460(A)(1)) from a higher subsequent offense to a lower subsequent offense.ⁱⁱ (Example: DUS, third offense, reduced to a DUS, second offense)

In order for any other traffic offense to be reduced or changed to another charge, the original UTT must be nolle prossed prior to trial and a new UTT written and served on the defendant. Provided below are common examples in which the original UTT would have to be nolle prossed and a new UTT written in order for the court to have jurisdiction to dispose of the case.

• DUI changed to DUAC.
• DUI changed to reckless driving (§56-5-2920).
• DUS changed to no SC driver’s license (§56-1-20).
• Reckless driving changed to driving too fast for conditions (§56-5-1520 (A)).
• Any traffic violation changed to careless/negligent/thoughtless operation of a motor vehicle (county or municipal ordinance).

If a defendant is originally charged with an offense that requires incarceration and booking, and the charge is reduced or changed to an offense that would not require incarceration and booking, the court should follow the normal expungement process provided in S.C. Code §17-22-950 to expunge the records held at SLED on the original charge. Also, if the original charge did not require booking, and was reduced or changed to a subsequent charge that does not require booking, the normal expungement process would be utilized to expunge the original charge. However, when a defendant is charged with an offense which required incarceration and booking, and that charge is reduced or changed to an offense which would have required incarceration and booking, the defendant's criminal record at SLED must be amended to reflect the subsequent charge. SLED has developed two forms which will direct that the fingerprints associated with the original charge be changed to the subsequent charge under those circumstances. The use of the forms avoids having to rebook the defendant on the subsequent charge. The forms and their use are addressed below.

Order of Offense Modification/Lesser Included (SCCA 773, 11/2016): This document is to be used to direct the change of fingerprint cards when the charge pled to or convicted of is a lesser included offense of the original charge and is written on the same UTT. Strict adherence to these guidelines is required.

• This is a court order and must be completed by the court.
• Only those fields bearing an asterisk are required to be completed.
• The original date of arrest of the defendant on the UTT must remain the same on this document.
• The document may be mailed, faxed or sent by encrypted email to the addresses indicated on the document.
• When SLED receives the completed order, the original charge will be deleted from the defendant’s record and the original UTT number will be applied to the new lesser included offense pled to or convicted of. Therefore, the court is not required to complete and send an expungement order to SLED for lesser included offenses on the same UTT. However, the court should redact the original charge on the court’s copy of the UTT and any other paper records containing the original charge, as well as removing the original charge from any public index.

Modification and Changes form (CJ-044, 8/28/2015): This document is to be used to direct the change of fingerprint cards when the charge pled to or convicted of is not a lesser included offense of the original charge, thereby requiring the nolle prosse of the original charge and the rewrite of a subsequent charge.  All involved in the process must strictly adhere to the following guidelines:

• Law enforcement or a prosecutor must complete the Modifications and Changes form, not the court.
• Only those fields bearing an asterisk are required to be completed.
• The defendant’s original date of arrest (DOA) must be used on all documents, including any new UTT written and the Modifications and Changes form.
• The Modifications and Changes form should be immediately completed and mailed, faxed, or sent by encrypted email to SLED to the addresses indicated on the document.   The court may transmit the completed document to SLED on behalf of law enforcement.
• That document must be received and processed by SLED prior to the court’s issuance of an order of expungement of the original charge. Otherwise, SLED would have no record of the charge and rebooking of the defendant would be required. Therefore, the court must wait the required 31 to 40 days prior to forwarding an expungement order to SLED to expunge the record of the original charge.

The forms are attached and should be implemented into CMS within the next few weeks. For those courts who are not on CMS, please provide these documents to your case management system vendor for implementation. In the meantime, you may load them on your computers as we have provided form fillable versions. Due to the nature of these forms, they will not be made available on the Judicial Department’s website.

There will understandably be a learning curve to this process, but we ask that you initiate this into your court process immediately. Please provide a copy of this document and/or the attached summary document to your local prosecutors and law enforcement. Should you have questions concerning this matter, please contact this office.