Baker v. State

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 Supreme Court

Demetrius Baker, Petitioner,

v.

State of South Carolina, Respondent.

          ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI

Appeal From Richland County
Thomas W. Cooper, Trial Judge
L. Casey Manning, Post-Conviction Relief Judge

Memorandum Opinion No. 2011-MO-014
Submitted May 3, 2011 Filed May 9, 2011    

AFFIRMED

Appellate Defender Katherine H. Hudgins, South Carolina Commission on Indigent Defense, Division of Appellate Defense, of Columbia, for Petitioner.

Attorney General Alan Wilson, Chief Deputy Attorney General John W. McIntosh, Assistant Deputy Attorney General Salley W. Elliott, and Assistant Attorney General Brian Petrano, all of Columbia, for Respondent.

PER CURIAM:  Petitioner seeks a writ of certiorari from the denial of his application for post-conviction relief (PCR).

We deny the petition on Petitioner's Question 2.  Because there is sufficient evidence to support the PCR judge's finding that petitioner did not knowingly and intelligently waive his right to a direct appeal, we grant the petition for a writ of certiorari on Petitioner's Question 1, dispense with further briefing, and proceed with a review of the direct appeal issue pursuant to Davis v. State, 288 S.C. 290, 342 S.E.2d 60 (1986).

Petitioner's conviction and sentence are affirmed pursuant to Rule 220(b)(1), SCACR, and the following authorities: State v. Frazier, 386 S.C. 526, 689 S.E.2d 610 (2010); State v. Arnold, 361 S.C. 386, 605 S.E.2d 529 (2004).

AFFIRMED.

TOAL, C.J., PLEICONES, BEATTY, KITTREDGE and HEARN, JJ., concur.