The hearing magistrate with whom I have been dealing informed me over the phone Friday that he had denied my motion for appeal because he claimed I didn't file it timely. I kindly explained to him that I didn't motion for appeal but rather Noticed him of my intent to appeal, for SC Code section 18-3-40. Per that statute, it was incumbent upon him to "file the notice in the office of the clerk of court [i.e. county circuit court, aka 'Court of Common Pleas'], together with the record, a statement of all the proceedings in the case, and the testimony taken at the trial as provided in Section 22-3-790." He failed to do this. It was not his job to evaluate the timeliness of the appeal, even though I did serve him within just a few days of my receiving the two "Notice of Failure to Comply with Terms of Citation" notices.
As of today, I am pursuing this failure to follow statutorily prescribed procedure through SC Court Administration. This may result in my getting the appeal I was aiming for (hopefully a vacation of the judgment) and an immediate instatement of my presumably now suspended DL. I would also like to pursue this magistrate in his personal capacity, probably through his bond or whatever other avenue I can pursue, due to his denial of my fundamental due process rights. I have already received a verbal indication from the attorney at SC Court Administration that oversees all magistrates in this state that, yes, this particular magistrate did fail to follow proper procedure, that it wasn't within his discretion to hinder my appeal by his attempt at "denying" it, and that I have developed solid sounding points for appeal.
FYI: It has long been a recognized problem in SC that the first level judges in the SC court system (i.e. county and city magistrates) have no legal education or training whatsoever, other than perhaps a meager "certificate" course by the SLED (South Carolina Law Enforcement Division), and a high school diploma. Only in recent years have they even begun to phase in increase education requirements...as of July 1, 2005, you must now have a bachelors degree to be a magistrate:
http://www.scstatehouse.net/code/t22c001.htm