Boulware 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

Jamone Boulware, Respondent,

v.

State of South Carolina, Petitioner.

ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI

Appeal From Richland County
 Roger M. Young, Circuit Court Judge

Memorandum Opinion No. 2009-MO-067
Submitted December 2, 2009 Filed December 21, 2009  

REVERSED

Attorney General Henry Dargan McMaster, Chief Deputy Attorney General John W. McIntosh, Assistant Deputy Attorney General Salley W. Elliott, and Assistant Attorney General Brian T. Petrano, of Columbia, for Petitioner.

Reynolds H. Blankenship, Jr., of Columbia; Robert M.P. Masella, of Columbia, for Respondent.

PER CURIAM:  This Court granted the State's petition for a writ of certiorari to review the circuit court judge's grant of post-conviction relief (PCR) to Jamone Boulware following his uncounseled magistrate's court conviction for breach of the peace.  In granting this relief, the PCR judge found that Boulware was unconstitutionally denied his right to counsel given he was sentenced to payment of a fine or imprisonment.

We reverse pursuant to Rule 220(b)(1), SCACR, and the following authority:  Scott v. Illinois, 440 U.S. 367, 373 (1979) (affirming pro se defendant's conviction and $50 fine for shoplifting merchandise valued at less than $150, a charge which subjected him to a maximum penalty of a $500 fine or one year in jail, or both and stating "actual imprisonment is a penalty different in kind from fines or the mere threat of imprisonment").

REVERSED.

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