State v. Fraley ( 2017 )

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.
Gary Curtis Fraley, Appellant.
Appellate Case No. 2015-001737
Appeal From Berkeley County
Kristi Lea Harrington, Circuit Court Judge
Unpublished Opinion No. 2017-UP-305
Submitted June 1, 2017 – Filed July 26, 2017
AFFIRMED
Appellate Defender John Harrison Strom, of Columbia,
for Appellant.
Attorney General Alan McCrory Wilson and Assistant
Attorney General Megan Harrigan Jameson, both of
Columbia; and Solicitor Scarlett Anne Wilson, of
Charleston, for Respondent.
PER CURIAM: Affirmed pursuant to Rule 220(b), SCACR, and the following
authorities:
1. As to whether the trial court erred in refusing to charge the insanity defense:
State v. Lewis, 328 S.C. 273, 278, 494 S.E.2d 115, 117 (1997) ("The law to be
charged is determined from the facts presented at trial."); State v. Curry, 410 S.C.
46, 52, 762 S.E.2d 721, 724 (Ct. App. 2014) ("This court will not reverse a circuit
court's decision to deny a specific request to charge unless the circuit court
committed an error of law."); State v. Brown, 362 S.C. 258, 262, 607 S.E.2d 93, 95
(Ct. App. 2004) ("If there is any evidence to support a jury charge, the trial [court]
should grant the request."); Lewis, 328 S.C. at 277, 494 S.E.2d at 117 ("Insanity is
an affirmative defense to a prosecution for a crime."); S.C. Code Ann. § 17-24-
10(A) (2014) (providing a defendant is insane if "at the time of the commission of
the act constituting the offense, the defendant, as a result of mental disease or
defect, lacked the capacity to distinguish moral or legal right from moral or legal
wrong or to recognize the particular act charged as morally or legally wrong");
Lewis, 328 S.C. at 278, 494 S.E.2d at 117 ("A defendant may rely on lay testimony
to establish insanity."); id. ("A requested charge on insanity is properly refused
where there is no evidence tending to show the defendant was insane at the time of
the crime charged.").
2. As to whether the trial court erred in refusing to charge the lesser-included
offenses to attempted murder: State v. Lewis, 328 S.C. 273, 278, 494 S.E.2d 115,
117 (1997) ("The law to be charged is determined from the fact presented at
trial."); State v. Curry, 410 S.C. 46, 52, 762 S.E.2d 721, 724 (Ct. App. 2014)
("This court will not reverse a circuit court's decision to deny a specific request to
charge unless the circuit court committed an error of law."); State v. Brown, 362
S.C. 258, 262, 607 S.E.2d 93, 95 (Ct. App. 2004) ("If there is any evidence to
support a jury charge, the trial [court] should grant the request."); State v. Brayboy,
387 S.C. 174, 179, 691 S.E.2d 482, 485 (Ct. App. 2010) ("In determining whether
the evidence requires a charge on a lesser included offense, the court views the
facts in a light most favorable to the defendant."); S.C. Code Ann.
§ 16-3-600(B)(1), (3) (2015) (providing assault and battery of a high and
aggravated nature (ABHAN), a lesser-included offense of attempted murder,
occurs when a person "unlawfully injures another person, and: (a) great bodily
injury to another person results; or (b) the act is accomplished by means likely to
produce death or great bodily injury"); § 16-3-600(C)(1), (3) (providing first-
degree assault and battery, a lesser-included offense of attempted murder and
ABHAN, occurs when "the person unlawfully: (a) injures another person, and the
act: (i) involves nonconsensual touching of the private parts of a person . . . ; or (ii)
occurred during the commission of a robbery, burglary, kidnapping, or theft; or (b)
offers or attempts to injure another person with the present ability to do so, and the
act: (i) is accomplished by means likely to produce death or great bodily injury; or
(ii) occurred during the commission of a robbery, burglary, kidnapping, or theft");
§ 16-3-600(E)(1), (3) (providing third-degree assault and battery, a lesser-included
offense of attempted murder, ABHAN, and first-degree assault and battery, occurs
when a "person unlawfully injures another person, or offers or attempts to injure
another person with the present ability to do so").
AFFIRMED.1
LOCKEMY, C.J., and HUFF and THOMAS, JJ., concur.
1
We decide this case without oral argument pursuant to Rule 215, SCACR.