Separate conduct supported the district court’s sentencing enhancements for (1) assaulting a law enforcement officer, U.S.S.C. § 3A1.2(c)(1) and (2) recklessly creating a substantial risk of death or serious bodily injury while fleeing, § 3C1.2. The § 3A1.2(c)(1) enhancement was ...

Tagged with: Criminal Practice

When defendant pled guilty, he knowingly and voluntarily waived his Sixth Amendment right to a jury trial; consequently, S.C. Code Ann. § 16-3-20(B) (“If trial by jury has been waived by the defendant and the State, or if the defendant ...

Tagged with: Criminal Practice

Petitioner testified that, after his arrest, a doctor at the jail diagnosed him with bipolar disorder and acute psychosis and placed him on a regimen including “anti-psychotic” medication. However, at his p0st-conviction relief (PCR) hearing, petitioner failed to provide any ...

Tagged with: Criminal Practice

After pleading guilty to multiple charges, petitioner applied for post-conviction relief (PCR), asserting that plea counsel was ineffective for failing to “challenge insufficient indictments” because the meth distribution at issue in two of the charges against petitioner took place near ...

Tagged with: Criminal Practice

Defendant’s problems with a prosecution witness’s forensic interview techniques should have been brought up outside the presence of the jury, while the trial court was deciding the issue of admissibility. The trial court properly declined to allow defendant to cross-examine ...

Tagged with: Criminal Practice

Respondent was tried for drug trafficking and possessing a weapon during the commission of a violent crime; he was acquitted of the weapon possession charge, but the jury could not reach a decision on the drug trafficking charges, so the ...

Tagged with: Criminal Practice

After shots were fired at Richard Simmons’ house, defendant joined Simmons in trying to chase down the shooters, and Simmons shot at the victim, believing she was one of the shooters. Under these circumstances, evidence of defendant’s gang affiliation was ...

Tagged with: Criminal Practice

In order to refute defendant’s claim that his gun – which was never found – discharged accidentally, a detective gave the jury a rudimentary explanation of how single-action and double-action revolvers are fired. Since this explanation could be grasped immediately ...

Tagged with: Criminal Practice

Where the district court failed to identify which § 3553(a) factors it thought supported its sentence based on its independent assessment of the offense conduct and defendant’s history and characteristics, and where the court did not explain which of the ...

Tagged with: Criminal Practice

Even though there was no direct evidence supporting the state’s theory of the case – that defendant sucker punched the victim (Victim) in the back of the head – and even though the evidence seemed to point to defendant having ...

Tagged with: Criminal Practice