Sheriff, prosecutor defend tape in Scott DUI case

After the dismissal of state Sen. Randy Scott's DUI trial this week, Dorchester County Sheriff Ray Nash called the ruling "outrageous" and prosecutor Barry Barnette plans to file an appeal. Both say that the "missing audio" cited by Magistrate Phillip Newsome as a reason for dismissing the case was nonexistent and that there was nothing wrong with the arrest tape.

From The Post and Courier:

On Friday, Nash and 7th Circuit Deputy Solicitor Barry Barnette played the segment of video that Newsome said was missing a minute and 10 seconds of audio.

...

"There's no glitch," Barnette said. "There's no gap. There is nothing but continuous feed from the microphone," Barnette said, adding that the ruling could affect every DUI case in the state. "It's a huge problem. We're getting more DUI cases thrown out in pre-trial motions than are getting to the jury."

From Live 5 News:

Barnette says they were prepared to argue all aspects of this case, but that the glitch claim came out of left field.

"It wasn't there, it was a motion made out of the blue. How can you argue against something that wasn't there?", Barnette said.

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