Criminal Practice  – Guilty Plea – Trafficking in Illegal Drugs

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By pleading guilty, Appellant waived his ability to challenge the criminal charges against him.

We affirmed Appellant’s guilty pleas and sentences.

Appellant was arrested after law enforcement found a significant amount of methamphetamine and fentanyl in his car. Appellant ultimately pleaded guilty to trafficking in methamphetamine and trafficking in illegal drugs in violation of sections 44-53-375(C) and 44-53-370(e)(3) of the South Carolina Code (2018), respectively. Two years later, he unsuccessfully filed a motion to vacate his guilty plea to one of the charges, trafficking in illegal drugs. Appellant argued section 44-53-370(e)(3) only criminalizes trafficking natural opioids and not synthetic opioids like fentanyl, and therefore, he pleaded guilty to a “non-existent” offense. Even if we were to assume Appellant is correct—a debatable point—the fact that he pleaded guilty based on his indisputably criminal conduct waived any ability to challenge the alleged lack of factual and legal basis for the actual plea he entered.

Because the defect Appellant alleged was non-jurisdictional, he was required to raise his argument before jeopardy attached, i.e., before he entered his guilty plea. Appellant’s failure to do so waived his ability to challenge whether fentanyl falls within section 44-53-370(e)(3). As pointed out by the State during the sentencing hearing, Appellant secured a bargain for himself by agreeing to plead guilty, namely under these facts, by lowering the minimum and maximum sentence he faced under trafficking as compared to possession with intent to distribute (PWID). He cannot belatedly complain of a possible defect in that bargain. We therefore affirmed Appellant’s conviction and sentence for trafficking in illegal drugs.

Affirmed.

The State v. Tony Tujuan Appellant (Lawyers’ Weekly No. 011-046-25, 10 p.) (John W. Kittredge, J.) Appealed from Greenville County Circuit Court (Perry H. Gravely, J.) Appellate Defender Sarah Elizabeth Shipe, of Columbia, for Appellant. Attorney General Alan McCrory Wilson and Assistant Attorney General Joshua Abraham Edwards, both of Columbia; and Solicitor Cindy Smith Crick, of Greenville, all for Respondent. South Carolina Supreme Court