Nearly 70 percent of the cases in a year-old pilot program aimed at combating domestic violence have resulted in convictions, the state’s top prosecutor says.

“That’s an excellent record,” S.C. Attorney General Henry McMaster said of his program, which operates in Richland, Kershaw and Orangeburg counties. “Criminal domestic violence is the No. 1 crime problem in South Carolina.”

McMaster in July 2003 launched a program in which private lawyers volunteer to prosecute less serious domestic violence cases in magistrate and municipal courts. Most domestic violence cases in South Carolina are heard in the lower courts.

Figures provided by McMaster’s office show that of the 371 cases handled through the program over the past year, 247, or 67 percent, resulted in guilty pleas or verdicts, either for criminal domestic violence or simple assault. The conviction rate was the highest in Columbia (70 percent), followed by Kershaw County (68 percent) and Orangeburg County (64 percent).

Slightly more than half of the convictions were guilty pleas, records from his office show.

McMaster said he believes his conviction rates were higher than before the program started, though he could not provide figures.

By comparison, about half of the cases in Columbia’s domestic violence court in 2000-01 resulted in convictions, according to a 2001 story in The State.

The S.C. Judicial Department does not keep conviction statistics for any crimes handled in magistrate and municipal courts.

The Palmetto State last year ranked No. 1 in the nation in the rate of women killed by men, according to a study by the nonprofit Violence Policy Center in Washington, D.C. Each year, there are about 35,000 domestic assaults statewide, State Law Enforcement Division records show.

Magistrates in Kershaw and Orangeburg counties said they support McMaster’s program, though one judge said many cases have been dismissed or resulted in acquittals because of a lack of evidence.

“I think the program is a very good program,” said Kershaw County Chief Magistrate Gene Hartis. “But I think the attorney general has some glitches to get worked out before it can be an excellent program.”

McMaster said because of their training, lawyers likely would be better prosecutors for magistrate or municipal court cases than police officers, who typically try those cases. Getting more convictions in the lower courts could help prevent more serious crimes, he said.

“It’s very empowering for the victim to have an attorney there for you,” said Vicki Bourus, executive director of the S.C. Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault. “And it sends a very clear message to batterers that the community you’re living in is going to get involved.”

First- and second-offense domestic violence cases, which do not involve serious injuries, are heard in magistrate and municipal courts. The maximum sentence for those crimes is 30 days in jail.

Hartis said offenders in Kershaw County usually receive a sentence that includes a fine and counseling for batterers. Orangeburg County magistrates say in their courts, offenders typically choose a 26-week counseling course over jail time or fines and surcharges totaling more than $1,000.

The most serious domestic violence cases are handled in the state’s circuit courts.

A 2001 study by The State found that judges and prosecutors statewide had dropped 54 percent of the most serious domestic violence charges from 1996 through 2000. Of those who were convicted during that period, about half did not get any prison time, and those who did served an average of less than two years behind bars.

McMaster’s program has been operating in municipal courts in Columbia and Orangeburg and in magistrate courts in Kershaw and Orangeburg counties. He said he wants to expand the program next to York County and Winnsboro in Fairfield County. He eventually would like to see it operating in all 46 counties.

About 50 volunteer lawyers initially signed up for program, and 13 more have expressed interest since then, according to McMaster’s office. Thirty-six lawyers attended a mandatory eight-hour training session.

Seventeen lawyers — nearly half of them from the state’s largest law firm, Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough — have tried cases, according to McMaster’s office. Eight prosecutors in McMaster’s office have handled pleas and other matters through the program.

Assistant Deputy Attorney General Jennifer Evans, who supervises prosecutions, said the program has conducted more than 10 domestic violence training sessions for police officers. The sessions teach officers to rely on evidence such as 911 tapes and pictures of the crime scene to help make cases, she said, explaining that victims recant about half the time.

In 2001, then-state Attorney General Charlie Condon ordered prosecutors statewide not to drop serious domestic violence cases solely because victims did not want to prosecute. That order is still in effect.

“There’s a big push toward victimless prosecution,” Evans said. “It takes the pressure off the victim. They’re more likely not to recant if they see there’s other evidence.”

But Kershaw County Chief Magistrate Hartis said many cases over the past year that have been dismissed or resulted in not-guilty verdicts often fell apart because they were based primarily on incident reports with little follow-up investigation.

Nearly a third of the 100 Kershaw County cases handled over the past year through McMaster’s program ended in dismissals or acquittals; the overall dismissal/acquittal rate for the three counties in the program was about the same, records show.

“I think the attorney general needs to have the officers better prepared,” Hartis said. “In a lot of cases, we just don’t have enough information to try a case.”

Kershaw County Sheriff Steve McCaskill said magistrates who dismiss cases often will “get too personally involved instead of acting on what is before them.”

“There’s a big push to educate our magistrates,” he said.

McCaskill said many cases are not strong because victims and witnesses fail to show up in court for trial, not because the officers never interviewed them.

Sometimes, the problem is that victims are not notified of their trial or hearing, said Nancy Barton, director of Sistercare, which operates three battered women’s shelters in Richland and Lexington counties.

McMaster said the volunteer lawyers in his program typically have handled cases that are at least a year old, before the new training was offered to officers. He added, though, he was not “faulting the officers.”

“What we have to do in training is to teach law enforcement and the judges that these cases are not handled like other cases,” McMaster said. “This is a unique area of prosecution.”

In Orangeburg County, Magistrate Cecil Moore, who handles most of the domestic violence cases, said McMaster’s program has been “a plus for Orangeburg County.” But neither he nor Willie Robinson, the county’s chief magistrate, knew whether the program has resulted in more convictions.

“It’s going to take more than one domestic violence program to make a dent,” said Robinson said. “It’s a societal issue.”

Reach Brundrett at (803) 771-8484 or rbrundrett@thestate.com