Taylor v. State

745 S.E.2d 97, 404 S.C. 350, 2013 WL 3048636, 2013 S.C. LEXIS 138
CourtSupreme Court of South Carolina
DecidedJune 19, 2013
DocketAppellate Case No. 2009-123871; No. 27272
StatusPublished
Cited by32 cases

This text of 745 S.E.2d 97 (Taylor v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of South Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Taylor v. State, 745 S.E.2d 97, 404 S.C. 350, 2013 WL 3048636, 2013 S.C. LEXIS 138 (S.C. 2013).

Opinion

Chief Justice TOAL.

Robert Troy Taylor (Petitioner) contests the post-conviction relief (PCR) court’s finding that he did not receive ineffective assistance of counsel after his plea counsel failed to advise him of the recidivist consequences of his guilty plea, and did not [353]*353adequately investigate one of the charges prior to his guilty plea. We affirm.

Factual/Procedural History

On April 20, 2006, in Georgetown County, Petitioner pleaded guilty as charged to the indicted offenses of one count of criminal sexual conduct with a minor in the second degree (CSC 2nd) and two counts of committing lewd act upon a minor (lewd act).1

During his guilty plea, Petitioner stated unequivocally that he committed the acts alleged by the State, and engaged in a detailed colloquy with the court affirming that he entered into the plea voluntarily, knowingly, and intelligently. The circuit court sentenced Petitioner to concurrent sentences of imprisonment for a period of eight years, suspended upon the service of five years, plus three years’ probation, for each of the charges. No direct appeal was taken with respect to these convictions or the sentences.

At the time of the Georgetown County plea, plea counsel also represented Petitioner on pending charges in Williams-[354]*354burg County involving one of the Georgetown County victims. Unbeknownst to Petitioner at the time of the Georgetown plea, he became eligible to receive a sentence of life without the possibility of parole (LWOP), pursuant to section 17-25-45(A) of the South Carolina Code, or the “two-strike” law, upon a subsequent conviction of another “most serious” crime. See S.C.Code Ann. § 17-25-45(A) (2003).2

Petitioner proceeded to trial on the Williamsburg charges in July 2007, and a jury found him guilty of CSC 2nd and kidnapping. The circuit court judge sentenced Petitioner to two consecutive LWOP sentences, pursuant to section 17-25-45 of the South Carolina Code, due to his prior conviction for CSC 2nd in Georgetown County. Petitioner filed a direct appeal upon his conviction in the Williamsburg County case, which was affirmed. See State v. Taylor, 396 S.C. 193, 720 S.E.2d 522 (S.C.Ct.App.2011).

On April 3, 2007, Petitioner filed an application for PCR, and an evidentiary hearing was convened on November 20 and 21, 2008.

At the evidentiary hearing, plea counsel admitted he did not advise Petitioner that his plea to CSC 2nd in Georgetown County could be used as a predicate offense that would expose him to an LWOP sentence on the Williamsburg County charges,3 and that this was a grave mistake in his representation.[355]*3554

Petitioner testified that he was unaware of the potential for an LWOP sentence in the Williamsburg County case until after he pleaded guilty to the Georgetown County charges.5 He testified further that he and plea counsel never discussed that pleading guilty in Georgetown would result in a “strike,” and that he would not have chosen to plead guilty in Georgetown County had he known the plea could expose him to an LWOP sentence on the Williamsburg County charges.6

Upon realizing his mistake, however, plea counsel testified he sought to mitigate the impact it would have on the Williamsburg County charges. To this end, plea counsel testified he approached the Solicitor in charge of Petitioner’s case in Williamsburg County, and they came to an informal agreement under which the Solicitor would allow Petitioner to plead to the lesser-included offense of lewd act with no [356]*356sentencing recommendation made by the State during the plea. Plea counsel testified he was confident that Petitioner would receive an identical and concurrent sentence to his sentence for the Georgetown County charges. Plea counsel testified the deal was contingent upon Petitioner’s acceptance of these terms, yet Petitioner remained adamant that he would not plead guilty to the Williamsburg County charges. Around this time, the relationship between Petitioner and plea counsel began to deteriorate because Petitioner was angry with plea counsel for failing to inform him of the consequences of the Georgetown County plea. Therefore, prior to the formalization of the agreement orchestrated by plea counsel, Petitioner fired plea counsel and hired new counsel to handle the Williamsburg County case. Petitioner’s new counsel never communicated with the Solicitor concerning the plea deal, and Petitioner proceeded to trial on the Williamsburg County charges.

At the evidentiary hearing, the PCR court also questioned Petitioner extensively about the particulars of his exchange with the Georgetown County plea judge, and Petitioner admitted that he declared unequivocally at the plea that he was guilty of the charges and subsequently engaged in a lengthy colloquy with the plea judge concerning the voluntariness of his plea. However, Petitioner asserted that he was not in fact guilty of CSC 2nd, and that plea counsel failed to investigate evidence that would have exonerated him.

Specifically, Petitioner pointed to a discrepancy in the alleged date on which the CSC 2nd occurred. The arrest warrant indicated the CSC occurred in June or July 1999. Shortly before the Georgetown County plea, the indictment was prepared, alleging the CSC 2nd occurred “on or about August 5, 1999 through August 7, 1999.” According to the statement of facts presented at the plea proceeding, the victim alleged he and Petitioner had gone to the beach. When Petitioner discovered the boys waiting to shower at the church, he offered to allow the victim to shower at his home, where they engaged in the sexual act forming the allegations against Petitioner.

Petitioner presented evidence at the PCR hearing that the showers at the church were not in operation that summer, [357]*357which he claimed plea counsel could have presented as evidence to refute the victim’s testimony for either the June/July dates or the August dates. In addition, Petitioner testified he was assisting several members of the church with renovations on another member’s home on August 5-7, 1999. Therefore, he claimed he could not have committed the crimes on the dates alleged in the Indictment. Although Petitioner claimed he would not have pleaded guilty to the Georgetown County charges had he known about the date change in the Indictment, the Record reveals that Petitioner was advised by the time of the plea that the dates for the alleged CSC 2nd had changed to August 5-7. Moreover, plea counsel testified that Petitioner never advised counsel of his potential alibi or the information available to him for purposes of discrediting the victim’s testimony about the showers at the church. In fact, plea counsel testified that, prior to the plea, Petitioner informed him he knew of a witness who would exonerate him. However, counsel testified that when he interviewed the supposed witness, he remembered nothing about the time period in question or the particular beach trip. According to plea counsel, Petitioner never advised him of the fact that there were no working showers at the church. Furthermore, plea counsel testified he did not discover any information which would have aided Petitioner in defending against the CSC 2nd charge.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
745 S.E.2d 97, 404 S.C. 350, 2013 WL 3048636, 2013 S.C. LEXIS 138, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/taylor-v-state-sc-2013.