Richards v. Crump

Littlejohn, Justice:

A magistrate’s sentencing authority has been challenged and we are called upon to determine if a magistrate is empowered to impose consecutive sentences on a defendant for several separate offenses.

A petition for writ of habeas corpus was brought in the Charleston County Court by prisoners confined under consecutive sentences imposed by a magistrate’s court for multiple charges. The lower court issued an order o.n July 12, 1972, directing the release of one prisoner, and then on July 13, 1972, issued a second order directing the release of all prisoners similarly situated.…