Langley v. State

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

Herman
Eugene Langley, Petitioner,

v.

State
of South Carolina, Respondent.

Appeal From Lancaster County

Costa M. Pleicones, Trial Judge

Paul E. Short, 1st Post-Conviction Relief Judge

Brooks P. Goldsmith, 2nd Post-Conviction Relief Judge

Unpublished Opinion No. 2010-UP-374

Submitted July 1, 2010 – Filed July 26, 2010

AFFIRMED

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

Attorney
General Henry D. McMaster, Chief Deputy Attorney John W. McIntosh, Assistant
Deputy Attorney General Salley W. Elliott, and Assistant Attorney General Michelle Parsons Kelley, all of Columbia; and Solicitor Douglas A. Barfield,
of Lancaster, for Respondent.

PER
CURIAM:  Petitioner seeks a writ of certiorari from
the denial of his application for post-conviction relief (PCR). 

Because there is sufficient evidence to support the PCR court's
finding that Petitioner did not knowingly and intelligently waive his right to
a direct appeal, we grant certiorari and proceed with a belated review of the
direct appeal issue pursuant to Davis v. State, 288 S.C. 290, 342 S.E.2d
60 (1986). 

Petitioner
appeals his conviction for armed robbery, arguing the trial court erred in admitting
two guns into evidence that were not relevant to his armed robbery charge.  We affirm.[1] 
The two guns owned by Petitioner's uncle served as relevant circumstantial
evidence proving Petitioner had access to and temporary possession of weapons
on the day of the armed robbery, and the trial court correctly limited
admissibility of the guns for that purpose.  See State v. Morris,
376 S.C. 189, 205, 656 S.E.2d 359, 368 (2008) ("The admission or exclusion
of evidence is left to the sound discretion of the trial court, and the court's
decision will not be reversed absent an abuse of discretion."); Rule 401,
SCRE ("'Relevant evidence' means evidence having any tendency to make the
existence of any fact that is of consequence to the determination of the action
more probable or less probable than it would be without the evidence."). 

AFFIRMED.

FEW, C.J., HUFF
and THOMAS, JJ., concur.  

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