State v. Harris

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, Appellant,

v.

Kenny Ray Harris, Respondent.

Appellate Case No. 2015-001099

Appeal From Pickens County
Alexander S. Macaulay, Circuit Court Judge

Unpublished Opinion No. 2017-UP-060
Submitted November 1, 2016 – Filed January 25, 2017

REVERSED AND REMANDED

Attorney General Alan McCrory Wilson, Chief Deputy
Attorney General John W. McIntosh, and Senior
Assistant Attorney General David A. Spencer, all of
Columbia; and Solicitor William Walter Wilkins, III, of
Greenville, all for Appellant.

Steven Luther Alexander, of Alexander Law Firm, LLC,
of Pickens, for Respondent.

PER CURIAM: The State appeals the circuit court's reversal of the magistrate
court's order reinstating a criminal domestic violence charge against Kenny Ray
Harris that the magistrate had previously dismissed. Because the magistrate court's
order was not immediately appealable, we reverse and remand this case to the
magistrate court. See Ashenfelder v. City of Georgetown, 389 S.C. 568, 571, 698
S.E.2d 856, 858 (Ct. App. 2010) ("An appellate court may determine the question
of appealability of a decision from a [trial] court as a matter of law."); Levi v. N.
Anderson Cty. EMS, 409 S.C. 374, 380, 762 S.E.2d 44, 47 (Ct. App. 2014) (stating
the appealability of an order can be raised at any time); State v. Isaac, 405 S.C.
177, 181, 747 S.E.2d 677, 679 (2013) ("The right to appeal a criminal conviction is
conferred by section 14-3-330 of the South Carolina Code."); S.C. Code Ann. §
14-3-330(2) (2017) (providing an immediate appeal may be taken in a law case
from "[a]n order affecting a substantial right made in an action when such order (a)
in effect determines the action and prevents a judgment from which an appeal
might be taken or discontinues the action, (b) grants or refuses a new trial[,] or (c)
strikes out an answer or any part thereof or any pleading in any action"); Isaac, 405
S.C. at 183, 747 S.E.2d at 680 ("[G]enerally, a criminal defendant may not appeal
until [a] sentence is imposed."); Shields v. Martin Marietta Corp., 303 S.C. 469,
470, 402 S.E.2d 482, 483 (1991) ("Avoidance of trial is not a 'substantial right'
entitling a party to immediate appeal of an interlocutory order."); id. ("The decision
on a motion to restore the case to the active docket is not a final judgment and is
interlocutory and, therefore, not immediately appealable.").

REVERSED AND REMANDED.1

LOCKEMY, C.J., and KONDUROS and MCDONALD, JJ., concur.

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