State v. James

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, Respondent,

v.

John Arthur James, III, Appellant.

Appellate Case No. 2018-001080

Appeal From Williamsburg County
R. Ferrell Cothran, Jr., Circuit Court Judge

Unpublished Opinion No. 2021-UP-023
Submitted November 1, 2020 – Filed January 27, 2021

AFFIRMED

Appellate Defender Joanna Katherine Delany, of
Columbia, for Appellant.

Attorney General Alan McCrory Wilson and Senior
Assistant Deputy Attorney General Deborah R.J. Shupe,
both of Columbia; and Solicitor Ernest Adolphus Finney,
III, of Sumter, all for Respondent.

PER CURIAM: John Arthur James, III appeals his conviction and aggregate
twenty-year sentence for assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature and
possession of a weapon during a crime of violence. On appeal, James argues the
trial court erred in denying his request to charge the jury on the lesser-included
offense of second-degree assault and battery.

The evidence presented at trial showed the victim was shot and his injuries
required surgery. Specifically, the victim had six holes in his intestines, which
were leaking stool into the victim's abdominal cavity. The victim's surgeon
testified the victim lost fifteen inches of his intestine and he would have died
without surgery to repair the holes in his intestine. Because there is no evidence
tending to show the jury could have found James guilty of the lesser-included
offense rather than the crime charged, we affirm pursuant to Rule 220(b), SCACR,
and the following authorities: State v. Niles, 412 S.C. 515, 521, 772 S.E.2d 877,
880 (2015) ("In criminal cases, the appellate court sits to review errors of law only.
Thus, [the appellate court] is bound by the trial court's factual findings unless the
appellant can demonstrate that the trial court's conclusions either lack evidentiary
support or are controlled by an error of law." (citation omitted)); State v. Mattison,
388 S.C. 469, 478, 697 S.E.2d 578, 583 (2010) (stating that in reviewing jury
charges for error, the appellate court must consider the trial court's jury charge as a
whole in light of the evidence and issues presented at trial); State v. Gilmore, 396
S.C. 72, 76, 719 S.E.2d 688, 690 (Ct. App. 2011) ("If there is evidence in the
record from which the jury could infer the defendant is guilty of the lesser-included
offense, rather than the crime charged, the trial judge must instruct the jury on the
lesser-included offense."); State v. Byrd, 323 S.C. 319, 321, 474 S.E.2d 430, 431
(1996) (stating an appellate court views the facts in the light most favorable to the
defendant when determining whether the evidence requires a charge on a
lesser-included offense); Gilmore, 396 S.C. at 77, 719 S.E.2d at 690-91 (stating an
appellate court "must reverse and remand for a new trial if the evidence in the
record is such that the jury could have found the defendant guilty of the lesser
offense instead of the crime charged"); S.C. Code Ann. § 16-3-600(B)(1) (2015)
("A person commits the offense of assault and battery of a high and aggravated
nature if the person unlawfully injures another person, and: (a) great bodily injury
to another person results; or (b) the act is accomplished by means likely to produce
death or great bodily injury."); S.C. Code Ann. § 16-3-600(A)(1) (2015) (defining
"[g]reat bodily injury" as "bodily injury which causes a substantial risk of death or
which causes serious, permanent disfigurement or protracted loss or impairment of
the function of a bodily member or organ"); S.C. Code Ann. § 16-3-600(D)(1)(a)
(2015) ("A person commits the offense of assault and battery in the second degree
if the person unlawfully injures another person, or offers or attempts to injure
another person with the present ability to do so . . . [and] moderate bodily injury to
another person results or moderate bodily injury to another person could have
resulted . . . ."); S.C. Code Ann. § 16-3-600(A)(2) (2015) (defining "[m]oderate
bodily injury" as a physical injury that "causes temporary or moderate
disfigurement or temporary loss of the function of a bodily member or organ").

AFFIRMED.1

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

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