State v. Fulton

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.

Benjamin Fulton, Appellant.

Appeal From Williamsburg County
 Paula H. Thomas, Circuit Court Judge

Unpublished Opinion No.  2008-UP-110
Submitted February 1,2008 Filed February 12, 2008

AFFIRMED

Appellate Defender LaNelle C. Durant, South Carolina Commission on Indigent 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 Cecil Kelly Jackson, of Sumter, for Respondent.

PER CURIAM: Benjamin Fulton entered an Alford[1] plea to first degree criminal sexual conduct.   He was sentenced to eighteen years.  On appeal, Fulton argues the plea judge failed to adequately advise him of the full consequences of his plea because she did not inform him about the Sexually Violent Predator Act or the possibility of a life without parole sentence for a second most serious offense.  We affirm pursuant to Rule 220(b), SCACR, and the following authority:  State v. McKinney, 278 S.C. 107, 108, 292 S.E.2d 598, 599 (1982) ("Absent timely objection at a plea proceeding, the unknowing and involuntary nature of a guilty plea can only be attacked through the more appropriate channel of Post-Conviction Relief.").

AFFIRMED.[2]

HUFF, KITTREDGE, and WILLIAMS, JJ., concur.

[1] North Carolina v. Alford, 400 U.S. 25 (1970).

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