Horry County Violent Crime Prosecution team cuts through pile of cases in first year

HORRY COUNTY, S.C. (WMBF) - Horry County’s year-old Violent Crime Prosecution Team specifically focuses on high-profile cases that require a lot of leg work, and it’s paying off as numbers are on the decline.

15th Circuit Solicitor Jimmy Richardson said last year the county had 94 pending murder charges, but with the help of the Violent Crime Prosecution Team that number has been cut down to 70.

Horry County council recently approved a grant continuing to fund the year-old team. Richardson said he first applied for a grant to establish the team because he needed help getting through the number of murder cases that spiked in 2020.

“A guy that’s got a case load of 450 or 500 they’re not going to be able to do that, and this really is filling in a gap that we didn’t have before,” said Richardson.

Richardson said while they take about 26 murder cases to trial each year, the team is constantly working to collect and preserve evidence from past and current cases that come in.

“These violent crime prosecutors have to work hand in hand with the police knowing that this case may not come up for a year and a half or two years, but the work has to be done now,” said Richardson.

The team splits up the workload with three focusing on murders and the other two dedicating their time to rape and child abuse cases.

Richardson said in just a year the team has already made great progress.

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