Beaufort SC attorney billed with DUI, refuses breathalyzer

A Beaufort-centered lover of a nicely-recognised South Carolina regulation firm was billed Friday with driving less than the influence and also refused to deliver a breath sample, according to officers from the South Carolina Highway Patrol and Beaufort County Sheriff’s Workplace.

Bennett Joseph Schiller, 54, of Lady’s Island, was billed early Friday morning with driving under the affect.

Schiller is a trial lawyer and a associate of Schiller & Hamilton, a statewide law business with places of work in Beaufort and Bluffton. Specializing in harm regulation for motor motor vehicle incidents, the firm was voted the greatest in legal defense regulation and personalized damage law by viewers of the Lowcountry’s Ideal journal in September 2022.

Deputies conducted a website traffic end on Schiller just before 2 a.m. Friday, as the law firm was driving on Sam’s Place Road on Lady’s Island, in accordance to Maj. Angela Viens of the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Workplace.

Following he was stopped, Schiller refused to submit a breath sample for the DataMaster DMT, the only breathalyzer accredited for DUI scenarios throughout the condition, in accordance to Trooper Nick Pye, a spokesperson for the SC Freeway Patrol.

In South Carolina, drivers have the correct to refuse a breathalyzer, but all those who do are subject matter to suspension of their driver’s license for 6 months or far more. The person’s refusal may possibly also be utilised in opposition to them in court docket.

A agent from Schiller & Hamilton Regulation Agency could not be arrived at for remark.

Schiller was released Friday early morning from the Beaufort County Detention Middle on a particular recognizance bond.

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The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette publishes law enforcement reserving pictures, or mugshots, in the adhering to scenarios:

  • In circumstances wherever a general public determine or anyone in a placement of community have faith in is arrested
  • In instances in which there is an fast and prevalent threat to community security
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Reporters will avoid making use of mugshots as direct illustrations or photos for on line article content in buy to limit their circulation on social media, other than in scenarios exactly where the general public is served by the quick identification of the accused. Reporters and editors might use discretion in scenarios that don’t meet the conditions outlined in this plan but nonetheless current a persuasive cause to publish a mugshot.

Evan McKenna is a breaking news reporter for The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette. A Tennessee indigenous and a graduate of the College of Notre Dame, he reports on crime and basic safety in Hilton Head, Bluffton and Beaufort.

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