State v. Gary Piper

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 M. Piper, Appellant.

Appeal From Spartanburg County

Thomas W. Cooper, Jr., Circuit Court Judge

Unpublished Opinion No. 2010-UP-013

Submitted January 4, 2010 – Filed January 21, 2010   

APPEAL DISMISSED

Appellate Defender Robert M. Pachak, of Columbia,
for Appellant.

Attorney General Henry Dargan McMaster, Chief
Deputy Attorney General John W. McIntosh, Assistant Deputy Attorney General Salley
W. Elliott, all of Columbia; and Harold W. Gowdy, III, of Spartanburg, for
Respondent.

PER
CURIAM:  Appellant, Gary M. Piper,
was indicted for murder, pointing and presenting a firearm, failure to stop a
motor vehicle when signaled by an officer, and two counts of attempted armed
robbery.  During a jury trial on the charges, Piper pled guilty to the failure
to stop charge and was thereafter convicted of the remaining charges.  The
trial court sentenced Piper to concurrent sentences of forty-five years for
murder, five years for pointing and presenting a firearm, five years for
failure to stop, and twenty years on each of the armed robbery charges.  Piper’s counsel attached to the brief a
petition to be relieved as counsel, stating that he had reviewed the record and
concluded this appeal lacks merit.  Piper did not file a separate pro se brief.  After a thorough review of the record 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] the appeal and grant counsel’s petition to be relieved.

APPEAL DISMISSED.

HUFF, A.C.J., GEATHERS,
J., and CURETON, A.J., concur.

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