Victims, the defendants wait while the efforts begin to fix the system

Charleston, SC (WCSC) – Families in Charleston and Berkeley County Circuit believes that new efforts will solve the problem.

The request for orders has left the families of the victims fighting for closure and responsibility, while some defendants face long waiting before their day in court. In some cases, such as Eston Shoaf, families have waited more than six years to begin a trial.

Prosecutors have admitted that the rhythm of the judicial system has been slow, but the recent steps taken by the Supreme Court of the State and the lawyer’s office of the 9th circuit could generate relief to those caught in delays.

A growth delay

A great accumulation of cases has been placing the ninth circuit for years, and although the problem existed before Covid, the pandemic exacerbated the problem.

With tens of thousands of criminal cases pending in the counties of Charleston and Berkeley and almost 8,000 cases that have been pending for a year and a half or more, the victims and their families are frustrated with the notoriously slow process.

And it is not just an exclusive problem of Lowcountry, the 13th circuit, which includes Greenville and Pickens counties, has more than 25,000 open cases with almost 6,000 open for 545 days or more.

A family deeply affected by the order portfolio and the delay is the Dantzler family. They are still waiting for justice years after an accident that killed Stephanie Dantzler and his two daughters, Shanice and Miranda Dantzler-Williams.

“It’s hard because you don’t start healing until justice has been served, and this has been happening for three years,” says Darin Dantzler, a member of the victims’ family. “It is not justice.”

It was on May 8, 2022, when the authorities say that the deputy of the County of Charleston, Emily Pelletier, made a high signal on the 17 highway hitting a car, the authorities say.

Pelletier remains in bonus without an established proof date.

“(Not) to take a rocket scientist to discover what is happening because we see it as a slap on the face,” says Eric Dantzler, another member of the victims’ family.

When other high profile crimes have received an appointment in court before them, the family stays with an open wound while they still work to process the loss of their family members, they say.

“The main thing is that there is nothing that has to assemble,” says Darin Dantzler. “There is an open and closed case. This is nothing to fight. “

Three years later, they have frustrations and there are no answers.

“That is traumatic for this family in itself that they have to endure this due to the total contempt for the law of an agent of the law,” says local pastor Thomas Dixon.

The case of Dantzlers is not an isolated problem. With more than 20,000 pending cases in Charleston and Berkeley counties, many victims and their families are waiting for justice, creating a generalized sensation of frustration.

“Maybe we need a family to change the system in Charleston County because it must be changed,” says Eric Dantzler.

Efforts to address the portfolio

The lawyer of the ninth Scarlett Wilson circuit, who has been on paper since 2008, acknowledges that there are inefficiencies in the judicial system.

“The judges really put themselves in a bad situation when they were given the responsibility of managing a file without additional resources,” she says. “They were in that position in a kind of nobody’s land for a long time.”

But there is hope on the horizon, says Wilson.

In 2024, John Kitledge was elected as the Supreme Court of the Supreme Court of South Carolina. Under his leadership, there has been a more open communication with the ninth circuit and the commitment to bring additional resources, says Wilson.

“Our goal is to fill each file and make sure that something moves every week of the Court, whether full of guilt statements when we have a jury or judgments when we have judgments,” she says. “Our goal is, of course, to focus first on violent crimes and then support those cases with less serious cases, but all cases are important.”

According to Wilson, there are more judges and a more efficient schedule, and prosecutors are more involved in establishing the file, according to Wilson.

“We have made great steps,” she says. “Berkeley County in particular has really worked hard and has done a good job to excavate the backwardness.”

“However, it is always part of the work; You will never finish, ”adds Wilson. “I will never get out of this office and say that my work is done here, we have finished, we are out of work. That will never happen. So, it is part of the hamster wheel and always has work to do. “

Families of victims looking for resolution

Despite these efforts, the families of the victims, such as those of Eston Shoaf, remain skeptical.

“We have been waiting for all this time,” says Deborah Dawsey, Shoaf’s mother. “Who would have thought would take more than six to seven years?”

Shoaf was shot dead in December 2018, but the man accused of his murder, Kenneth continues, has not yet gone to trial. Shoaf’s family says they can’t heal until the case is resolved.

In the years that the family has been waiting, continued three times more in three different counties, according to judicial records. That has aggravated family frustrations.

“We are at a dead point,” says Robert Dawsey, Shoaf’s stepfather. “We cannot make a decision to do next because we have this problem hanging on our neck.”

Prosecutors say that the case cannot advance to the trial until the judge, Deadra Jefferson, present his decision on the argument of the defense of Siganza shot Shoaf in self -defense. That audience was more than seven months ago, and Jefferson has not answered our questions.

Then, the family expects: wait for the trial, wait for closure and hopes to see if the structural changes in the judicial system will really help.

“I just want to be done,” says Deborah Dawsey. “And then we can try to move on.”

Looking to the future

The lawyer Wilson expects the impacts of these changes to be more evident and provide a precise image of whether the changes work for the summer.

“I hope that from January to July, we will see space in our file to add things, because we had to reject the people who were in jail, who said: ‘I am ready to accept responsibility. I am ready to enter and declare yourself guilty, ”says Wilson. “Well, we have no room for you to come this week and you are sitting in jail. It shouldn’t be so. “

The next trial for murder scheduled in Charleston County will begin on March 3, that murder occurred in October 2019.

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