State v. Wilkes

SHULER, Judge.

Leroy Wilkes appeals his convictions for assaulting two correctional" facility employees, arguing the indictments did not confer subject matter jurisdiction on the trial court.1 We agree and vacate.

With limited exceptions, “[n]o person may be held to answer for any crime the jurisdiction over which is not within the magistrate’s court, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury of the county where the crime has been committed----” S.C. Const. art. I, § 11; S.C.Code Ann. § 17-19-10 (1985). This provision has been interpreted to mean that, in the absence of an…