Epps v. State ( 2009 )

THIS OPINION HAS NO PRECEDENTIAL VALUE.  IT SHOULD NOT BE CITED OR RELIED ON AS PRECEDENT IN ANY PROCEEDING EXCEPT AS PROVIDED BY RULE 239(d)(2), SCACR.

THE STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA
In The Supreme Court

Dale Epps, Petitioner,

v.

State of South Carolina, Respondent.

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ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI

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Appeal From Greenville County
C. Victor Pyle, Jr., Trial Judge
G. Edward Welmaker, Post-Conviction Judge

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Memorandum Opinion No. 2009-MO-027
Submitted June 10, 2009 – Filed June 15, 2009

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DISMISSED

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Appellate Defender Joseph L. Savitz, III, South Carolina Commission on Indigent Defense, Division of Appellate Defense, of Columbia, for Petitioner.

Attorney General Henry Dargan McMaster, Chief Deputy Attorney General John W. McIntosh, Assistant Deputy Attorney General Salley W. Elliott, and Assistant Attorney General Karen C. Ratigan, all of Columbia, for Respondent.

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PER CURIAM:  Petitioner seeks a writ of certiorari from the denial of his application for post-conviction relief (PCR).

We deny the petition as to petitioner’s Question 2.

Because there is sufficient evidence to support the PCR judge’s finding that petitioner did not knowingly and intelligently waive his right to a direct appeal, we grant certiorari on petitioner’s Question 1, dispense with further briefing, and proceed with a review of the direct appeal issue pursuant to Davis v. State, 288 S.C. 290, 342 S.E.2d 60 (1986).

Counsel for petitioner has filed a brief pursuant to Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738 (1967), and a petition to be relieved as counsel. Petitioner has filed a pro se response and a petition for a writ of habeas corpus.  After a thorough review of the record pursuant to Anders, we dismiss the appeal and grant the petition to be relieved as counsel. Further, we deny the petition for a writ of habeas corpus.

DISMISSED.

TOAL, C.J., WALLER, PLEICONES, BEATTY and KITTREDGE, JJ., concur.