Two layers of state court share the work. Summary courts, meaning the magistrates and the town or city courts, take the small cases. Their power stops at a $500 fine, 30 days in jail, or both (S.C. Code 22-3-550; S.C. Code 14-25-65). Shoplifting of $2,000 or less is an exception they also try, with a fine as high as $1,000 (S.C. Code 16-13-110).

The magistrates here issue warrants, set bonds and hold preliminary hearings, besides trying traffic, criminal and civil matters. A jury in their court has six members (S.C. Code 22-3-545).

Felonies, and misdemeanors that can bring more than 30 days, belong to the Court of General Sessions. That is the name South Carolina uses for the criminal side of its circuit court. Each case is heard in the county of the alleged crime. This county shares the 8th Judicial Circuit with Abbeville, Laurens and Newberry (S.C. Code 14-5-610).

The county's trial courts share the courthouse on Monument Street, so the room number matters:

• Clerk of Court for General Sessions and Family Court filings, 528 Monument Street, Room 114, Greenwood, SC 29646, 864-942-8575. Open Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., closed on major holidays. Details on General Sessions charges are shared at the counter, in person, rather than over the phone.
• Magistrate Court (Central Court), 528 Monument Street, Room 100, Greenwood, SC 29646, 864-942-8655. Open the same weekday hours, with payments taken until 4:30 p.m. Every magistrate in the county sits here.
• Federal court for this area, G. Ross Anderson, Jr. Federal Building, 315 South McDuffie Street, Anderson, SC 29624. Its clerk's work is handled in Greenville at 864-241-2700.

Courtrooms and offices can move, so call the right office before a first visit.

Yes, three municipal courts handle city and town cases.

• City Municipal Court, Municipal Building, 520 Monument Street, Greenwood, SC 29646, 864-942-8474, office open weekdays 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Court meets most weekday mornings at 9:00 a.m., plus Tuesday evenings at 6:00 p.m. and Wednesday afternoons at 2:00 p.m. Preliminary hearings fall on select Mondays at 2:00 p.m., and jury weeks usually come once a month. It hears summonses from city police, Lander University police and Self Regional Healthcare security. Fines are due on the court day.
• Ninety Six Municipal Court, mail to P.O. Box 8, Ninety Six, SC 29666, 864-543-3122. Town Hall is at 120 Main Street West, Ninety Six, SC 29666.
• Ware Shoals Municipal Court, 8 Mill Street, Ware Shoals, SC 29692, 864-456-7478.

For a ticket or charge from Hodges, Troy or a rural road, phone the Magistrate Court at 864-942-8655 to learn which court will hear it.

Within 24 hours of the arrest, a magistrate, or a municipal judge in a city case, holds a bond hearing (S.C. Code 22-5-510). Charges that can carry death or life wait for a circuit judge instead. What families will see:

• The judge reads out each charge and reviews the criminal record police turn over.
• The judge chooses release on recognizance, a dollar bond or set conditions, and may order GPS monitoring.
• Any victim may come and speak. A hearing gets pushed back if police failed to give the victim fair warning (S.C. Code 16-3-1525).
• This is a good moment to request a public defender.

Felonies, and other charges too serious for a magistrate trial, carry one more right. The person may demand a preliminary hearing within 10 days after the bond hearing (Rule 2(a), SCRCrimP). For the hearing time, call the jail at 864-943-8059 or the magistrates at 864-942-8655.

Most small charges end in the magistrate or municipal courtroom. Pleading not guilty sets up a trial before the judge, or before six jurors if the defense wants a jury. City court will also grant time to hire a lawyer when asked.

• Assault and battery, third degree: fine up to $500, up to 30 days, or both (S.C. Code 16-3-600(E)(2)).
• Shoplifting of $2,000 or less: fine up to $1,000, up to 30 days, or both (S.C. Code 16-13-110(B)).
• Classed misdemeanors: Class C carries up to a year, Class B two years and Class A three years (S.C. Code 16-1-20). Those go to General Sessions.

Alcohol Education is a $250 Solicitor program for people 17 to 20 with no earlier alcohol offense, and the fee can be lowered (S.C. Code 17-22-550). Magistrate fines are payable through the county's online payment portal for tickets.

Felony cases follow a set path:

1. Bond hearing in summary court. For murder and other life or death charges, a circuit judge handles bond.
2. Preliminary hearing in Magistrate Court, on a defense request filed no more than 10 days after bond is set (Rule 2(a), SCRCrimP). At this hearing the magistrate tests the State's evidence.
3. General Sessions. The 8th Circuit Solicitor's Office prepares the court's dockets and prosecutes the case.
4. Plea or trial, then sentencing.

Felonies fall into six classes (S.C. Code 16-1-20). The worst, Class A, allows 30 years. Every lower class loses five years from that cap, so Class F allows five. Shoplifting worth more than $2,000 but under $10,000 is a five-year felony, while $10,000 and up allows ten (S.C. Code 16-13-110(B)). Murder means death, or 30 years up to life (S.C. Code 16-3-20(A)).

Only offenses named on the state's violent crime statute qualify (S.C. Code 16-1-60). A listed charge tightens the rules:

• Bond. On these charges a magistrate is free to deny bond. Charges that could bring life go straight to a circuit judge.
• Ten percent deposits are off the table (S.C. Code 17-15-15).
• Repeat arrests. Picking up another violent or gun felony during an open bond for one revokes that bond by law, with a circuit hearing due inside 30 days (S.C. Code 17-15-55(C)). The new arrest also adds a separate felony of up to five years (S.C. Code 17-15-270).
• Pretrial Intervention is closed to violent charges (S.C. Code 17-22-50).
• Victims may address the judge at any hearing that touches bond (S.C. Const. art. I, § 24).

General Sessions prosecutions here belong to the 8th Circuit Solicitor's Office, 222 Phoenix Street, Floor 2, Greenwood, SC 29648, 864-942-8800, with mail to P.O. Box 516, Greenwood, SC 29648. The 8th Circuit Solicitor's website lists its diversion programs: Pretrial Intervention, Drug Court, Veterans Court, Alcohol Education, Traffic Education and expungement help.

Pretrial Intervention is for first, nonviolent charges, and the Solicitor decides who gets in. It costs a $100 application fee plus $250 to take part, and a person too poor to pay can have both waived (S.C. Code 17-22-110). Someone who completes it sees the charge dismissed and can then apply for an expungement (S.C. Code 17-22-150). DUI charges are not eligible.

Greenwood's public defender office sits at 528 Monument Street, Greenwood, SC 29646, 864-229-9505. Applicants sign a sworn money form and pay a $40 fee that the clerk can waive (S.C. Code 17-3-30). The South Carolina Commission on Indigent Defense oversees the program from 1330 Lady Street, Suite 401, Columbia, SC 29201, 803-734-1343.

The county's cases are on the South Carolina Judicial Branch system:

• Search by name or case number in the Public Index for this county.
• Check upcoming court calendars on the county's online dockets.

The Public Index shows court cases, not where someone is jailed. If a record is unclear, visit the Clerk of Court counter at 528 Monument Street, Room 114, Greenwood, SC 29646, since General Sessions charge details are shared in person. For magistrate dates, call 864-942-8655. For city court, call 864-942-8474. Spell the defendant's name exactly and know their birth date before you call.

Across the county, the Sheriff's Warrants Division serves warrants from the Law Enforcement Center, 528 Edgefield Street, Greenwood, SC 29646, 864-943-8032, and keeps a Warrants Division page. Inside city limits, city police at 520 Monument Street, Room 103, Greenwood, SC 29646, 864-942-8405, serve them too. Either office will answer by phone whether a warrant is active, and open cases show in the Public Index. Statewide fugitive lists are kept by state probation officials and the U.S. Marshals. To clear it, get a lawyer's advice first. Then the person surrenders where the warrant was signed, or calls that court to reschedule. In General Sessions cases, the contact is the Clerk of Court, 528 Monument Street, Room 114, Greenwood, SC 29646, 864-942-8575.

Federal crimes are tried in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina, which puts this county in its Greenwood Division. Hearings take place in Anderson's G. Ross Anderson, Jr. Federal Building, 315 South McDuffie Street, Anderson, SC 29624, or in Greenville. Filings and questions are handled by the clerk's office at 250 East North Street, Greenville, SC 29601, 864-241-2700, open weekdays 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

• Release is decided at once (18 U.S.C. 3142). A federal judge settles it when the defendant first appears.
• Federal prisoners are housed by the U.S. Marshals, who also drive them to hearings. The agency's upstate office is at 300 East Washington Street, Room 232, Greenville, SC 29601, 864-232-1566.
• When the case ends in prison time, use the Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locator to learn the facility.

The judge, the charges and the court dates stay the same. The hold matters on the day the state would let the person go.

1. Immigration officers (ICE) lodge a Form I-247A detainer with the Edgefield Street jail.
2. It seeks a hold of up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released (8 CFR 287.7(d)).
3. ICE may take custody then. Its office for this state is at 3950 Faber Place Drive, North Charleston, SC 29405, 843-746-9800.
4. Look the person up on the ICE Online Detainee Locator.

South Carolina law adds a jail duty. Within 72 hours of a criminal booking, staff must confirm whether the person is lawfully in the country, and unlawful presence gets reported to federal Homeland Security (S.C. Code 23-3-1100). The bond judge also weighs that status and any flight risk (S.C. Code 22-5-510(D)(4)).

Three months or less is normally served in the county jail (S.C. Code 24-3-30). Longer terms go to the South Carolina Department of Corrections, and the agency assigns the prison (S.C. Code 24-3-20).

• SCDC begins each new term with reception and evaluation. Family visits wait until that intake stage is over, though a stay longer than 30 days opens them up.
• Find the assigned prison through the SCDC inmate search. It skips anyone still held on Edgefield Street.
• Main office: 4444 Broad River Road, Columbia, SC 29210, 803-896-8500. For custody alerts, dial SC VINE at 866-727-2846.
• Our South Carolina prison guide lists every state facility.

Family Court takes the cases of children, which state law defines as anyone under 18. A 17-year-old can still land in adult court, though, if the accusation is a top-four-class felony (A, B, C, D) or carries a 15-year maximum or longer (S.C. Code 63-19-20(1)). The Clerk of Court keeps Family Court files at 528 Monument Street, Room 114, Greenwood, SC 29646, 864-942-8575.

• A Family Court judge must hold a detention hearing within two days of custody. Weekend days and holidays are not counted (S.C. Code 63-19-830).
• Younger teens, ages 14 to 16, facing serious felonies can be moved too: a judge may send the case to General Sessions after a hearing (S.C. Code 63-19-1210).
• A Greenwood teen ordered held normally ends up at the DJJ Juvenile Detention Complex, 1725 Shivers Road, Columbia, SC 29210, 803-896-9440 (visitation line).
• Local juvenile justice staff work in the courthouse, 528 Monument Street, Room 202, Greenwood, SC 29646, 864-229-6648.

The Solicitor also offers Juvenile PTI, Juvenile Arbitration and a Multi-Disciplinary Juvenile Treatment Court for some youth.

Under the state constitution, crime victims in Greenwood courts get word when the accused is jailed, freed or breaks out. Victims may speak at any bond hearing, confer with the prosecutor and seek restitution (S.C. Const. art. I, § 24). Police must try to notify them of the bond hearing early enough to attend (S.C. Code 16-3-1525).

• Free custody alerts: SC VINE or 866-727-2846, in English and Spanish.
• The Sheriff's Office runs Victim Services within its Investigations Division. Call 864-942-8600 and ask for it.
• The Attorney General's Victim Advocacy Division is in the Rembert Dennis Building, 1000 Assembly Street, Room 519, Columbia, SC 29201, 803-737-3739.

Family members should not call, text or visit the victim, or send word through friends. Contact of any kind risks a bond violation and new charges.