State v. Cates

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.

Christopher S.
Cates, Appellant.

Appeal From Cherokee County

 Doyet A. Early, III, Circuit Court Judge

Unpublished Opinion No.  2008-UP-422

Submitted July 1, 2008 – Filed July 21,
2008

APPEAL DISMISSED

Appellate Defender Aileen P. Clare, South Carolina Commission of
Indigent Defense, Division of Appellate 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 Harold W. Gowdy,
III, of Spartanburg, for Respondent.

PER CURIAM: Christopher
Scott Cates appeals his guilty plea to lynching and assault and battery of a
high and aggravated nature.  On appeal, Cates maintains the trial court abused
its discretion by failing to grant his motion for a separate trial.  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] Cates’ appeal and grant counsel’s motion to be relieved.

APPEAL
DISMISSED.

HEARN, C.J.,
CURETON and GOOLSBY, A.J.J., concur.

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