State v. Richards

THE STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA

In The Court of Appeals

The State,       
Respondent,

v.

Larkland Richards,       
Appellant.

Appeal From Aiken County

William P. Keesley, Circuit Court Judge

Unpublished Opinion No. 2003-UP-167

Submitted January 10, 2003 – Filed February
27, 2003   

APPEAL DISMISSED

Assistant Appellate Defender Aileen P. Clare, of Columbia.

Attorney General Henry Dargan McMaster
Chief Deputy Attorney General John W. McIntosh
Assistant Deputy Attorney General Charles H. Richardson, of
Columbia; Barbara R. Morgan, of Aiken; for Respondent.

PER CURIAM:  Larkland Richards appeals his
guilty plea to distribution of crack cocaine, second offense.  Richards argues
the trial court violated the mandate of Boykin v. Alabama, 395 U.S. 238
(1965), by accepting his guilty plea because his plea was not knowingly and
voluntarily entered.  Richards’s counsel attached to the brief a petition to
be relieved as counsel, stating she had reviewed the record and concluded Richards’s
appeal lacks merit.  After a thorough review of the record and counsel’s brief
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 [1] Richards’s appeal and grant counsel’s
motion to be relieved.

APPEAL DISMISSED.

HEARN, C.J., GOOLSBY and SHULER, JJ., concur.

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