Constable Conflicts

The South Carolina Advisory Committee on Standards of Judicial Conduct opines

A chief magistrate court judge employs a constable who recently married a Juvenile Investigator for the local Sheriff’s Department. Under S.C. Code § 22-9-10, a magistrate may
appoint one person to discharge the duties of constable for the jurisdiction. The constable’s duties include: executing all legal orders directed to them by the governing bodies of the counties in which he or she serves; attending any of the circuit courts if required by the sheriff and performing the appropriate duties assigned to him or her by the sheriff or presiding judge; executing all process lawfully directed to him by appropriate authorities; and levying executions. S.C. Code §§ 22-9-60 to -110. The Juvenile Investigator is not in a supervisory position and will not appear before the judge in Court, except on the very limited occasions in which the judge would have to fill in for the judge who presides over preliminary hearings. However, the judge may be asked to sign warrants where the Juvenile Investigator is the affiant. The judge inquires as to the propriety of signing such warrants.

A magistrate should not sign warrants where the investigator/affiant is the spouse of the judge’s constable.

A prior opinion

In a previous opinion, we considered whether a judge could employ a constable whose spouse was the Chief Animal Control Officer in the County. See Op. No. 2-2012. While we determined that disqualification was not mandated under Canon 3, we found that because the constable’s spouse or his/her employees regularly appear before the court, the appearance of impropriety could be created or the magistrate’s partiality could be questioned under Canons 1 and 2. Thus, we determined that the judge should not hire that individual as constable.

(Mike Frisch)