Criminal Court Cases in Horry County
The Horry County Clerk of Court keeps Circuit Court General Sessions files at 1301 Second Avenue in Conway. General Sessions is the county's main felony and higher criminal court within South Carolina's Fifteenth Judicial Circuit. Its file follows the charge after the solicitor files it and can show the indictment, attorneys, motions, hearings, plea or verdict, disposition, sentence, and financial entries. The General Sessions line is 843-915-5084, while the main Clerk line is 843-915-5080. Both counters list weekday hours from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Horry County criminal court cases do not all reach General Sessions. Magistrates handle warrants, most bond proceedings, preliminary matters, and offenses assigned by law. Municipal courts keep city ordinance, traffic, and fine-level files within their jurisdiction. A citation issued inside Myrtle Beach, Conway, or North Myrtle Beach may remain in that city's court. The court named on the ticket, bond paper, or case heading is therefore more useful than a county mailing address.
The official South Carolina Judicial Branch explains the statewide court structure and rules.
That state layer helps a reader distinguish a Horry County General Sessions docket from a lower-court or appellate record.
Horry County Criminal Court Map
A court case search works best when it starts at the level that owns the file. General Sessions tracks felony and higher criminal prosecution. Magistrate Court records cover the lower matters assigned to magistrates, as well as bond and warrant activity. A municipal court owns its city cases. The Fifteenth Circuit Solicitor prosecutes General Sessions matters and certain transferred magistrate cases, but the solicitor is not the public docket custodian. The Public Defender represents people found eligible by the court and likewise does not keep a public criminal-history database.
The Fifteenth Circuit Solicitor identifies its General Sessions, magistrate, victim, juvenile, and diversion functions.
The office map is useful for understanding who prosecutes a Horry County charge, while the Clerk remains the source for the filed case record.
Coastal residents can also ask the Clerk's South Strand counter at 9630 Scipio Lane in Myrtle Beach about access, at 843-915-5082. Call first if the request involves an archived General Sessions file or a certified disposition, since the research does not establish that every older file is stored at that counter.
Horry County Case Record Searches
The free South Carolina Judicial Branch Public Index is the first online channel for a Horry County criminal case search. A case number gives the cleanest match. A name search can work, but spelling, aliases, and shared names make it less exact. Readers should compare the court, filing date, charge date, and case type before treating two entries as the same person or matter.
- Select Horry County in the Public Index and accept its access notice.
- Enter the exact case number when known. Otherwise use last name, first name, and criminal or General Sessions filters.
- Compare identifiers and dates. Open each charge because one Horry County case can contain several outcomes.
- Read the docket from filing through disposition instead of stopping at the first charge description.
- Call General Sessions or visit the Clerk for an older record, missing document, certified copy, or unclear entry.
A magistrate or municipal citation may not appear as a General Sessions case. In that event, contact the court shown on the ticket or bond paper. The broader Horry County arrest search can help identify the arresting agency and booking number before the court search begins.
Horry County Public Index Fields
The Horry County Public Index offers several ways to narrow a docket search. Not every field is required, and the exact date or case-type options can vary by county module. Start narrowly when a case number is available. With a name, use enough detail to reduce false matches without assuming that a blank result proves no case exists.
| Field Label | Type | Required | Options or Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| County | Dropdown or map | Yes | Select Horry before entering the county index |
| Case Number | Text | No | An exact identifier is the most precise route |
| Last Name / Business | Text | Conditional | Spelling affects party-name results |
| First Name | Text | No | Helps narrow a common surname |
| Party Type | Dropdown | No | Use defendant where the module offers it |
| Court / Case Type | Dropdown | No | Narrow to criminal or General Sessions |
| Date Range | Dates | No | May filter filing or event dates |
Note: A Horry County name match is a lead, not positive identification; compare dates, charges, counsel, and court before relying on it.
What a Criminal Case File Contains
A Horry County criminal case file describes what happened after a prosecutor or court accepted a charge. It differs from the jail booking, which records custody and the allegation at intake. The online view may provide a detailed index even when no document image is available. Financial detail also varies by module, so the Clerk is the right source for a complete or certified record.
| Case Header | County, court, case number, case type, filing date, status, and disposition date. |
|---|---|
| Parties and Counsel | Defendant display, State of South Carolina, party role, and attorneys when entered. |
| Filed Charge | Description, statute, class, and available arrest, incident, indictment, or warrant references. |
| Docket Events | Service, bond, indictment, hearing, continuance, motion, plea, verdict, sentence, dismissal, or closure entries. |
| Disposition | The result for each charge, such as conviction, dismissal, nolle prosequi, acquittal, or another posted status. |
| Financial Data | Assessments, fines, costs, and payment entries where the Public Index module exposes them. |
| Documents | Only the images made available online; an index entry does not promise a downloadable PDF. |
Read each charge separately. One Horry County case can show a plea on one count and a dismissal on another. A disposition is the result, while a sentence is the court's order after a conviction.
Horry County Dockets Without PDFs
A Public Index event line can exist without a scanned pleading or order. That does not mean the Horry County Clerk lacks the document. It means only that the public online index does not promise a downloadable copy. Note the case number, document or event date, charge, and court. Then call General Sessions at 843-915-5084 or visit the Clerk counter to ask what may be inspected and how to request a copy.
A regular screen print is informational. When a person needs formal proof of the Horry County disposition, the Clerk supplies the certified court copy. Court staff may redact personal identifiers, protected victim or minor information, and sealed content. The South Carolina Freedom of Information Act is not a way around court access rules or a sealing order.
The Horry County Public Defender describes its representation role and office contact.
Its privileged defense files are not substitutes for the public Horry County court case file maintained by the Clerk.
Criminal Case Stages in Horry County
A booking charge can change before a case reaches final judgment. Police first document an alleged offense and arrest. A magistrate handles initial bond matters. The Fifteenth Circuit Solicitor evaluates and files charges for prosecution, and a grand jury may return a true bill, meaning an indictment, or a no bill, meaning it declines to indict. Pretrial motions, discovery, and negotiations then shape what reaches plea or trial.
Case flow: Charges Filed › Arraignment › Pretrial › Plea or Trial › Disposition › Sentencing
The docket can show each Horry County stage on a different date. A nolle prosequi entry means the prosecutor formally chose not to continue that charge at that time. It is not a conviction. An acquittal is a not-guilty result, while a conviction follows a guilty plea or verdict. These terms matter more than the first allegation shown in a booking entry.
Horry County Jury Transfer Timeline
The Solicitor's Magistrate Division handles identified Horry County Police and state-public-safety first-offense DUI jury demands and third-degree domestic-violence matters. These transferred cases can require police reports, video, and, in DUI matters, driving and toxicology records. The office reports that full discovery and plea processing may take six months to a year. A person should not treat a gap in the General Sessions docket as a final result while that transfer is underway.
The official Solicitor Magistrate Court page explains the local allocation and timing.
That Horry County process also asks written discovery requests to be specific, include a mailing address, and allow at least two weeks.
Horry County Charges in Plain Terms
Short docket terms can carry the most important meaning in a Horry County criminal court case. The outcome should be read charge by charge, and the filed charge should be compared with the arrest allegation rather than assumed to be identical.
- Indictment
- A grand jury's formal accusation for a General Sessions prosecution.
- True bill
- The grand jury returns an indictment.
- No bill
- The grand jury declines to indict.
- Nolle prosequi
- The solicitor formally decides not to continue a charge at that time.
- Disposition
- The final or current outcome posted for a charge.
- Sentence
- The punishment or order imposed after a conviction.
Federal charges arising in Horry County use a different system. The PACER federal records service requires an account and uses the published federal fee schedule.
A federal docket will not appear merely because the same name was searched in Horry County's state Public Index.
Access Rules for Case Records
South Carolina generally provides public inspection and copying rights through the South Carolina Freedom of Information Act, including S.C. Code sections 30-4-30 and 30-4-40. Court records also operate under Judicial Branch access policy, including Rule 610. Public access does not make every Horry County case detail open. Juvenile records, sealed or expunged matters, active-investigation material, protected victim and minor data, Social Security numbers, full birth dates, and financial account data may be withheld or redacted.
If a Horry County case is missing online, ask the Clerk whether it is older, archived, held by a magistrate or municipal court, or restricted by law. The county Public Information Office can receive FOIA requests for county-held material, but it does not replace the Clerk's process for a certified disposition. Likewise, the SLED CATCH name report is a statewide repository product, not the full court docket.