David Lee Meggett v. State of SC ( 2022 )

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
David Lee Meggett, Petitioner,
v.
State of South Carolina, Respondent.
Appellate Case No. 2018-000065
Appeal From Charleston County
G. Thomas Cooper, Jr., Circuit Court Judge
Unpublished Opinion No. 2022-UP-315
Submitted June 1, 2022 – Filed July 27, 2022
AFFIRMED
Tricia A. Blanchette, of Law Office of
Tricia A. Blanchette, LLC, of Leesville, for Petitioner.
Attorney General Alan McCrory Wilson, Deputy Attorney
General Donald J. Zelenka, Senior Assistant Attorney
General W. Edgar Salter, III, and Senior Assistant Deputy
Attorney General Melody Jane Brown, all of Columbia,
for Respondent.
PER CURIAM: Affirmed pursuant to Rule 220(b), SCACR, and the following
authorities: Mack v. State, 433 S.C. 267, 272, 858 S.E.2d 160, 162 (2021) (holding
that this court must uphold the PCR court's factual findings "if there is any evidence
of probative value in the record to support them" (quoting Thompson v. State, 423
S.C. 235, 239, 814 S.E.2d 487, 489 (2018))); Mose v. State, 420 S.C. 500, 505, 803
S.E.2d 718, 720 (2017) ("In PCR actions, the burden of proof is on the applicant.");
Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 687–88, 692 (1984) (holding that in
pursuing a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel, the PCR applicant must
demonstrate that (1) counsel's "representation fell below an objective standard of
reasonableness" and (2) "any deficiencies in counsel's performance [was] prejudicial
to the defense."); id. at 690 ("[T]he court should recognize that counsel is strongly
presumed to have rendered adequate assistance and made all significant decisions in
the exercise of reasonable professional judgment."); id. at 694 ("The defendant must
show that there is a reasonable probability that, but for counsel's unprofessional
errors, the result of the proceeding would have been different."); id. ("A reasonable
probability is a probability sufficient to undermine confidence in the outcome.");
Rivera v. Illinois, 556 U.S. 148, 153 (2009) ("Under Batson v. Kentucky . . . and later
decisions building upon Batson, parties are constitutionally prohibited from
exercising peremptory challenges to exclude jurors on the basis of race, ethnicity, or
sex."); cf. Juniper v. Zook, 117 F. Supp. 3d 780, 792 (E.D. Va. 2015) (holding that
the proponent of an ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claim "must show that, but for
his trial counsel's ineffectiveness in failing to make certain arguments . . . the trial
court would have found the prosecutor in violation of Batson").
AFFIRMED.1
GEATHERS and HILL, JJ., and LOCKEMY, A.J., concur.
1
We decide this case without oral argument pursuant to Rule 215, SCACR.