State v. Bates

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 Court of Appeals

The State, Respondent,

v.

Edward Leon
Bates, III, Appellant.

Appeal from Richland County

 Reginald I. Lloyd, Circuit Court Judge

Unpublished Opinion No. 2008-UP-601

Submitted October 1, 2008 – Filed October
28, 2008   

APPEAL DISMISSED

Appellate Defender Eleanor Duffy Cleary, of Columbia, for
Appellant.

Attorney General Henry Dargan McMaster, Chief Deputy Attorney
General John W. McIntosh, and Assistant Deputy Attorney General Salley W.
Elliot, and Solicitor Warren B. Giese, all of Columbia, for Respondent.

PER CURIAM: 
Bates was convicted of armed robbery, and sentenced to life without parole.  On appeal, Bates’s counsel
argues the court erred in sentencing Bates to life without parole because the
sentencing statute, as applied to Bates, violates the constitutional
prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.  Bates also filed a pro se brief.  After a
thorough review of the record and briefs pursuant to Anders v. California,
386 U.S. 738 (1967) and State v. Williams, 305 S.C. 116, 406 S.E.2d 357
(1991), we dismiss the appeal and grant counsel’s motion to be relieved.[1]

APPEAL
DISMISSED.

HEARN, C.J., HUFF and GEATHERS, JJ., concur.

[1] We decide this case without oral argument pursuant to
Rule 215, SCACR.