State v. Whitehead

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 Supreme Court
The State, Respondent,
v.
Christopher Ryan Whitehead, Petitioner.
Appellate Case No. 2012-213683
ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE COURT OF APPEALS
Appeal from Kershaw County
G. Thomas Cooper, Jr., Circuit Court Judge
Memorandum Opinion No. 2015-MO-033
Heard December 11, 2014 – Filed June 10, 2015
AFFIRMED AS MODIFIED
Appellate Defender LaNelle Cantey DuRant, of
Columbia, for Petitioner.
Attorney General Alan M. Wilson, Chief Deputy
Attorney General John W. McIntosh, Senior Assistant
Deputy Attorney General Donald J. Zelenka, Senior
Assistant Attorney General Melody J. Brown, and
Solicitor Daniel E. Johnson, all of Columbia, for the
Respondent.
JUSTICE KITTREDGE: We granted a writ of certiorari to review the court of
appeals' unpublished opinion in State v. Whitehead, Op. No. 2012-UP-526 (S.C.
Ct. App. filed Sept. 12, 2012). For the reasons set forth in State v. McDonald, 412
S.C. 133, 771 S.E.2d 840 (2015), we affirm as modified. While the admission of
the codefendants' statements violated the Confrontation Clause,1 in view of the
overwhelming evidence of guilt, the error was harmless.
AFFIRMED AS MODIFIED.
TOAL, C.J., PLEICONES, BEATTY and HEARN, JJ., concur.
1
U.S. Const. amend. VI; see Bruton v. United States, 391 U.S. 123 (1968).