Could a South Carolina magistrate countersign a faxed arrest warrant from another county in 1995?

Official title

Regarding the validity of service of a facsimile copy of an arrest warrant.

Requester

W. S. Hanks, Chief of Police, Honea Path Police Department

Plain-English summary

A police chief asked whether another county could use a faxed arrest warrant for service and arrest. The 1995 letter referred him to an enclosed earlier opinion and stated its narrow conclusion: no absolute legal rule barred a magistrate from countersigning a faxed warrant copy. The individual magistrate would decide whether to countersign it.

The letter did not independently analyze every step of the proposed arrest, and the referenced earlier opinion was an enclosure rather than part of this letter’s reproduced text.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 1995. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.

Common questions

Q: Was a faxed warrant automatically invalid for countersigning? A: No. The letter said there was no absolute legal prohibition against a magistrate countersigning a faxed copy.

Q: Was the magistrate required to countersign the fax? A: No. The decision remained within the individual magistrate’s discretion.

Q: Did the letter decide every arrest procedure mentioned by the police chief? A: No. Its stated answer concerned countersigning a faxed warrant and referred to an earlier enclosed opinion.

Background and statutory framework

The request involved transmitting an original warrant by fax to another South Carolina county. The response cited an earlier AG opinion, No. 91-2, dated January 7, 1991, for the countersigning conclusion.

Citations and references

• AG Opinion No. 91-2 (January 7, 1991), identified in the letter

Source

• Landing page: https://www.scag.gov/opinions/opinions-archive/august-30-1995/
• Original PDF: https://www.scag.gov/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/95aug30hanks.pdf

Original opinion text

The State of South Carolina

OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
CHARLES MOLONY CONDON
A'ITORNEY GENERAL

August 30, 1995

I
I

W. S. Hanks, Chief of Police
Honea Path Police Department
30 N. Main Street
Honea Path, South Carolina 29654
Dear Chief Hanks:
You have asked our opinion regarding the validity of service of a facsimile copy of an arrest warrant. Your specific question is as follows:
[i]f [an] ... Agency [faxes] a copy of [the] original arrest warrant to another jurisdiction in another County of South Carolina can that agency legally have that fax copy of [the] warrant certified for service in that County? Can that agency arrest [the] Offender on a Fax Copy, Warrant on Offender already entered in NCIC/S.C. active warrant file. I am enclosing for your review Op. No. 91-2 (January 7, 1991) which concludes that there is no absolute legal prohibition against the countersigning of a faxed copy of an arrest warrant. Thus, as the Opinion finds, it remains a matter within the discretion of the individual magistrate as to whether a faxed copy of arrest warrant is countersigned by that magistrate. Very truly yours,

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Robert D. Cook
Assistant Deputy Attorney General
RDC/an
Enclosure
REMBERT

c. DENNIS Bt ILDl'IG

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