Category: Public Policy, Government and Law

Below is the second post written by Jolley Foundation grant recipient Alexandra Clark ’15 about her summer internship in South Carolina.  Her first post can be found here.

This blog post brings the closing of my internship at the City Prosecutor’s Office and my summer in Charleston, South Carolina. Through my reflections as my internship came to a close, I am very content and happy to say I was able to accomplish the goals I had set for myself and experience law in Charleston to the fullest capacity during my summer.

At the halfway point of my internship, I set out to explore more aspects of the law. I had become acquainted with the City Prosecutor’s Office and the judicial system of the municipal courts and wanted to see more. My first step in achieving this goal was a ride-along with the City of Charleston Police Department to see the action behind all of those arrest reports I read everyday to build cases.

I met with an officer at the CPD Headquarters at 5 PM for the “second shift,” which was from 5 in the evening to 3 in the morning. I chose to ride with Team 2, which includes most of the downtown area, which is known as being the center of the action. We rode in the police patrol car, responded to police calls over the CPD dispatch radio and gave traffic tickets. Participating in a ride-along gave me the opportunity to ask the officer questions I had been curious about while in the Prosecutor’s Office. It was a very cool experience and  I was happy to be in the front seat of the patrol car (definitely the place I’d rather be).

I was also able to explore the Solicitor’s Office in Charleston, which handles felonies and misdemeanors on the state level. The Solicitor’s Office operates within the jurisdiction of Charleston County, encompassing the cities of Charleston, Isle of Palms, Folly Beach and the crime-ridden North Charleston. North Charleston has been ranked as being among the highest crime rate municipalities in the country, so it seems that much of the office’s efforts are dedicated to that area.

First, I visited the Solicitor’s Office on a non-jury trial week to see the normal operations of the office. I was able to sit-in on a meeting between two solicitors who were preparing for a trial the following week. At that point, the evidence had been collected and the witnesses had been contacted and subpoenaed for trial.  In the meeting, the solicitors were deciding which witnesses would testify and in what order, and preparing to defend against motions that were being filed by the defense attorney in the case. The charge was Felony DUI with Great Bodily Injury, carrying a sentence of up to 15 years in prison.

The case was brought to trial the next Monday and it was such an exciting process for me to experience. I observed the opening arguments; the witness testimonies, the expert testimonies and the responding officer testimonies; closing arguments; jury deliberation; the jury’s presentation of the verdict; and the sentencing. I was able to spend time with the Victim’s Advocate, who shed light on her side of the court, which involved acting as a support system for the victim and their family by relaying information and addressing their questions and concerns. The defendant was found guilty and given six years in prison, much more than what even the solicitors were expecting due to his lack of a prior criminal record. The process was thrilling and completely reaffirmed my aspirations in law to fulfill my goal of seeking justice for the victimized. As the victim’s advocate put it, I had “caught the bug.”

This summer I was fortunate enough to participate in an internship that completely validated and reignited my motivation to practice law, and gave me a strong aspiration of practicing law in South Carolina. This would not have happened without the generosity of the Jolley Foundation and the guidance of the Davidson College Center for Career Development. For that, I am so grateful.

Alexandra Clark ’15, the author of this post, is one of three 2013 recipients of a South Carolina Internship Grant provided by Davidson College and The Jolley Foundation.  The purpose of the grant is to allow students to participate in educational internships and to explore living and working in the state of South Carolina.  Stay tuned for Alexandra’s second and final blog post about her Charleston internship at the end of the summer!

This summer, through the generous help of the Jolley Foundation and the Center for Career Development, I have been fortunate enough to participate in an internship at the City of Charleston Prosecutor’s Office in the city of Charleston, South Carolina. I have learned so much and gained incredible experience from this opportunity and am so grateful that I can share my experience through this blog.

The Office of the Prosecutor is in the Greenberg Municipal Building, which also houses the Charleston Police Department and the City of Charleston Municipal Courthouse. Every weekday, I report to this building for my internship.  I am responsible for preparing the case files on the defendants who have requested a jury trial. This involves collecting the Incident Report and Arrest Report from the Charleston Police Department, the defendant’s criminal record, the Accident Report (if necessary), and any other evidence that would be deemed necessary to create a convincing case against the defendant (such as pictures, CPD patrol car videos or victim’s testimony). My responsibility is to go through the collected information, summarize it and select the most important parts to consolidate for the Chief Prosecutor, Mark Bourdon, as he prepares for the jury trial.

When I am not spending my time preparing cases for court, I am actually in court, which is my favorite part of this internship. In the courtroom, I sit beside the prosecutor before the presiding judge as we go through the docket for the day. During my short time at the office, I have already begun to recognize the habitual offenders who are in the courts on new charges almost every week. As the judge calls each defendant on the docket, I am responsible for taking notes for the prosecutor, recording how the defendant pleads, the disposition of the case, and the fines or jail sentence passed down to the defendant. In addition, I contact victims during the court session who did not appear in court in order to seek their assistance to further prosecute the case at hand. In certain courts, I am also responsible for negotiating plea deals with defendants in order for the trial to be resolved as smoothly as possible.

Negotiating with the defendants, a task usually reserved for law students, has been my favorite part of the internship. I have been able to make contact with the defendants who have requested a jury trial and attempt to resolve the matter before the case is presented before a jury. Depending on certain aspects of the case, such as the length of the defendant’s criminal record or the strength of the evidence built against the defendant, I am able to offer reduced fines, consolidation of tickets, or even dismissals upon good behavior for a ticket contingent upon a guilty plea from the defendant.

Spending time in court has taught me so much about the judicial process of the United States, including the dynamic between the prosecutor and the defense attorneys. Many of the defendants seek counsel from the public defender, granted to them by their rights that the judge informs them of at the beginning of every court session. Many more defendants choose to represent themselves and are expected to give testimony in order for the case to move forward and be tried. I’ve learned that the few who retain counsel from a defense attorney usually work out a plea bargain with the prosecutor or do something called a deferral for a period of time, which means that if the defendant does not have any new arrests within the period specified by the prosecutor, the charge will be dismissed from their criminal record.

My goal for the remainder of this internship is to further explore the judicial system of South Carolina, both at the municipal level in Charleston and at the state level with the Solicitor’s Office, which works in conjunction with the Prosecutor’s Office but works within a different jurisdiction. I also hope to gain more experience in the courts by spending time in other courtroom settings, such as traffic court, vice court and livability court. Additionally, I am arranging a ride-a-long with the Charleston Police Department to gain further insight from even more levels and angles of local government to better understand the process as a whole.

The experiences that I have gained through this internship have been invaluable to my growth as a student and my passion for attending law school after my time at Davidson College. I am looking forward to learning even more during the second half of my summer.