State v. Fulton

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.

Benjamin
Fulton, Appellant.

Appeal From Williamsburg County

 Paula H. Thomas, Circuit Court Judge

Unpublished Opinion No.  2008-UP-110

Submitted February 1,2008 – Filed February
12, 2008

AFFIRMED

Appellate Defender LaNelle C. Durant, South Carolina Commission on
Indigent Defense, of Columbia, for Appellant.

Attorney General Henry Dargan McMaster, Chief Deputy Attorney
General John W. McIntosh, Assistant Deputy Attorney General Salley W. Elliott,
Office of the Attorney General, of Columbia; and Solicitor Cecil Kelly Jackson,
of Sumter, for Respondent.

PER CURIAM: Benjamin Fulton entered an Alford[1] plea to first degree criminal sexual conduct.   He was sentenced to eighteen
years.  On appeal, Fulton argues the plea judge failed to adequately advise him
of the full consequences of his plea because she did not inform him about the
Sexually Violent Predator Act or the possibility of a life without parole
sentence for a second most serious offense.  We affirm pursuant to Rule 220(b),
SCACR, and the following authority:  State v. McKinney, 278 S.C. 107,
108, 292 S.E.2d 598, 599 (1982) (“Absent timely objection at a plea proceeding,
the unknowing and involuntary nature of a guilty plea can only be attacked
through the more appropriate channel of Post-Conviction Relief.”).

AFFIRMED.[2]

HUFF, KITTREDGE, and WILLIAMS, JJ., concur.

[1] North Carolina v. Alford, 400 U.S. 25 (1970).

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