State v. Stukins

THE STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA

THE STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA

In The Court of Appeals

The State,       
Respondent,

v.

Jerry Stukins,       
Appellant.

Appeal From Horry County

J. Michael Baxley, Circuit Court Judge

Unpublished Opinion
No. 2003-UP-549

Submitted July 15, 2003 – Filed September
25, 2003

AFFIRMED

Randall K. Mullins and Elizabeth J. Saraniti, of North
Myrtle Beach, for Appellant.

Attorney General Henry Dargan McMaster, Chief Deputy Attorney
General John W. McIntosh, Assistant Deputy Attorney General Charles H. Richardson,
and Senior Assistant Attorney General Harold M. Coombs, Jr., all of Columbia;
and Solicitor John Gregory Hembree, of Conway, for Respondent.

PER CURIAM:  Jerry Stukins was convicted of homicide by child abuse. 
He was sentenced to twenty years, suspended upon the service of fifteen years. 
On appeal, Stukins argues the trial court erred in failing to grant his motion
for a directed verdict.  We affirm [1] pursuant to S.C. Code Ann. §
14-8-250 (Supp. 2002), Rule 220(b), SCACR, and the following authorities:  State
v. Parler, 217 S.C. 24, 59 S.E.2d 489 (1950) (holding, under former Circuit
Court Rule 76, the denial of the defendant’s directed verdict motion was not
preserved for appeal where he failed to renew the motion after presenting evidence);
Note to Rule 19, SCRCrimP (stating the rule “is substantially the substance
of Circuit Court Rule 76”); State v. Adams, 332 S.C. 139, 144, 504 S.E.2d
124, 126-27 (Ct. App. 1998) (finding appellant’s directed verdict motion was
not preserved where the argument raised on appeal was not presented to the trial
court, and “[m]oreover, the record does not reflect that Adams renewed the motion
at the close of his case”) (citing, inter alia, State v. Parler, 217
S.C. 24, 59 S.E.2d 489 (1950) and the Note to Rule 19, SCRCrimP); State v.
Harry, 321 S.C. 273, 277, 468 S.E.2d 76, 79 (Ct. App. 1996) (“‘A motion
for a directed verdict made at the close of the [state’s] case is not sufficient
to preserve error unless renewed at the close of all the evidence, because once
the defense has come forward with its proof, the propriety of a directed verdict
can only be tested in terms of all the evidence.’”) (alteration in original);
Rule 208(b)(4), SCACR (“The brief shall contain references to the transcript,
pleadings, orders, exhibits, or other materials which may be properly included
in the Record on Appeal . . . to support the salient facts alleged. References
shall also be made to where relevant objections and rulings occurred in the
transcript.”).

AFFIRMED.

HEARN, C.J., CONNOR and ANDERSON, JJ., concur.

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