About South Carolina Self Defense Laws

Self defense laws in South Carolina are common law, meaning they were written by judges, not enacted by the legislature. There is no code of law for self defense in South Carolina, but it is a viable defense in the state. There are specific conditions that a person must meet in order to claim self defense in South Carolina. All, not some, of the elements must be satisfied for a successful self defense conclusion.

Features

The elements of self defense in South Carolina as set forth in the case of State vs. Fuller and are as follows:

1. You must be without fault in bringing on the difficulty.
2. You must actually believe you are in imminent danger of loss of life or serious bodily injury or actually be in such danger.
3. If you believe you are in such danger, you must use deadly force only if a reasonable or prudent man of ordinary firmness and courage would have believed himself to be in such danger, or, if you actually were in such danger, the circumstances were such as would warrant a man of ordinary prudence, firmness and courage to strike the fatal blow in order to save himself from serious bodily harm or losing his own life.
4. You had no other probable means of avoiding the danger of losing your own life or sustaining serious bodily injury than to act as you did in the particular instance.

Identification

Deciding between self defense and involuntary manslaughter in a murder case can be dependant upon the application of the self defense elements. Involuntary manslaughter is unintentionally killing someone who is either doing something illegal, but whose illegal act would not ordinarily cause death, or doing something illegal that puts others in danger.

Significance

Involuntary manslaughter may be applicable when all of the self defense elements are not met. In two recent cases before the South Carolina Supreme Court, the court upheld that self defense and involuntary manslaughter are not mutually exclusive and that, in a murder case, both should be submitted to a jury if there is evidence to support them.

Effects

A person charged with involuntary manslaughter has an easier defense strategy than someone defending murder with self defense. If all four elements of the self defense law are not met, then self defense is not relevant.

Potential

The judge's instructions to the jury in the case of murder versus involuntary manslaughter plays a major role in the possible outcome of the case. In South Carolina, involuntary manslaughter carries a sentence of zero to five years while a murder conviction carries a minimum of 30 years.

Resources

• South Carolina Self Defense Rulings