State v. Whitehead ( 2012 )


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  • THIS OPINION HAS NO PRECEDENTIAL VALUE. IT SHOULD NOT BE
    CITED OR RELIED ON AS PRECEDENT IN ANY PROCEEDING
    EXCEPT AS PROVIDED BY RULE 268(D)(2), SCACR.
    THE STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA
    In The Court of Appeals
    The State, Respondent,
    v.
    Christopher Ryan Whitehead, Appellant.
    Appellate Case No. 2008-103966
    Appeal From Kershaw County
    G. Thomas Cooper, Jr., Circuit Court Judge
    Unpublished Opinion No. 2012-UP-526
    Heard June 19, 2012 – Filed September 12, 2012
    AFFIRMED
    Senior Appellate Defender Joseph L. Savitz, III, and
    Appellate Defender LaNelle Cantey DuRant, both of
    Columbia, for Appellant.
    Attorney General Alan Wilson, Chief Deputy Attorney
    General John W. McIntosh, Assistant Deputy Attorney
    General Donald J. Zelenka, and Assistant Attorney
    General Melody Jane Brown, all of Columbia, and
    Solicitor Daniel E. Johnson, of Columbia, for
    Respondent.
    PER CURIAM: Christopher Whitehead appeals from his convictions of murder
    and burglary in the first degree, arguing the trial court erred in (1) allowing into
    evidence the statements of his two non-testifying co-defendants without adequately
    redacting their claims of his involvement because it denied him of his right to
    confront and cross-examine the witnesses; and (2) not directing a verdict acquitting
    him of murder and burglary because the State's evidence established nothing more
    than a mere suspicion of guilt.
    Josh Zoch died from multiple blunt force trauma to his head after being beaten
    with a baseball bat the night of December 12, 2006. Zoch, Whitehead, Derrick
    McDonald, and Robert Cannon all worked at the same Sonic Restaurant at one
    time. McDonald and Cannon both gave statements to police admitting their and
    Whitehead's involvement in the murder. Whitehead, McDonald, and Cannon were
    tried together as co-defendants in May 2008. None of the three co-defendants
    testified at trial. The jury found all three guilty, and the trial court sentenced
    Whitehead to two concurrent sentences of life without parole for murder and first-
    degree burglary due to his 2005 guilty plea to attempted armed robbery. We affirm
    pursuant to Rule 220(b), SCACR, and the following authorities:
    1.     As to Whitehead's argument that the trial court erred in allowing
    McDonald's and Cannon's statements into evidence without adequately redacting
    the portions of their statements implicating Whitehead because it denied him his
    right to confront and cross-examine the witnesses: State v. McDonald, Op. No.
    5033 (S.C. Ct. App. filed September 12, 2012) (finding the neutral phrase "another
    person" inserted into Cannon's statement avoided any Bruton v. United States, 
    391 U.S. 123
     (1968), violation because the redacted statement only implicated the
    statement's maker, and did not limit the participants to three, which would
    implicate the three defendants on trial; therefore, the trial court properly allowed
    Cannon's redacted statement into evidence).
    2.     As to Whitehead's argument that the trial court erred in not directing a
    verdict acquitting him of murder and burglary because the State's evidence only
    established a mere suspicion of guilt: State v. Kelsey, 
    331 S.C. 50
    , 62, 
    502 S.E.2d 63
    , 69 (1998) (stating the trial court is concerned with the existence of evidence
    rather than its weight when considering a directed verdict motion); State v.
    Sanders, 
    388 S.C. 292
    , 299, 
    696 S.E.2d 592
    , 596 (Ct. App. 2009) ("'In reviewing
    the denial of a motion for a directed verdict, the evidence must be viewed in the
    light most favorable to the State, and if there is any direct evidence or any
    substantial circumstantial evidence reasonably tending to prove the guilt of the
    accused, an appellate court must find that the case was properly submitted to the
    jury.'" (quoting Kelsey, 
    331 S.C. at 62
    , 
    502 S.E.2d at 69
    )); State v. Cherry, 
    361 S.C. 588
    , 594, 
    606 S.E.2d 475
    , 478 (2004) ("[A] trial judge is not required to find
    that the evidence infers guilt to the exclusion of any other reasonable hypothesis.").
    AFFIRMED.
    FEW, C.J., and HUFF and SHORT, JJ., concur.
    

Document Info

Docket Number: 2012-UP-526

Filed Date: 9/12/2012

Precedential Status: Non-Precedential

Modified Date: 10/22/2024