Opinion
Unpublished Opinion No. 2011-UP-511
11-28-2011
The State, Respondent, v. Jarvis Dequan Gibbs, Appellant.
Appellate Defender Robert M. Pachak, of Columbia, for Appellant. Attorney General Alan Wilson, Chief Deputy Attorney General John W. McIntosh, Assistant Deputy Attorney General Salley W. Elliott, and Senior Assistant Attorney General Harold M. Coombs, Jr., all of Columbia; and Solicitor Daniel E. Johnson, of Columbia, for Respondent.
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.
Appeal From Kershaw County
G. Thomas Cooper, Jr., Circuit Court Judge
AFFIRMED
Appellate Defender Robert M. Pachak, of Columbia, for Appellant.
Attorney General Alan Wilson, Chief Deputy Attorney General John W. McIntosh, Assistant Deputy Attorney General Salley W. Elliott, and Senior Assistant Attorney General Harold M. Coombs, Jr., all of Columbia; and Solicitor Daniel E. Johnson, of Columbia, for Respondent.
PER CURIAM : Jarvis Dequan Gibbs appeals his convictions for entering a bank with intent to steal, kidnapping, and using a firearm during the commission of a violent crime. Gibbs argues the trial court erred in allowing testimony about his statement to the police that he offered twenty dollars' worth of crack cocaine to borrow a bicycle because the testimony was unduly prejudicial and placed his character at issue. We affirm.
We decide this case without oral argument pursuant to Rule 215, SCACR.
"The admission of evidence is within the discretion of the trial court and will not be reversed absent an abuse of discretion." State v. Pagan, 369 S.C. 201, 208, 631 S.E.2d 262, 265 (2006). "An abuse of discretion occurs when the conclusions of the trial court either lack evidentiary support or are controlled by an error of law." Id. "Generally, appellate courts will not set aside convictions due to insubstantial errors not affecting the result." Id. at 212, 631 S.E.2d at 267. "[A]n insubstantial error not affecting the result of the trial is harmless where 'guilt has been conclusively proven by competent evidence such that no other rational conclusion can be reached.'" Id. (citation omitted).
Here, competent evidence established Gibbs's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Arthur Macklin, the owner of the bicycle, testified, and Gibbs admitted, Gibbs borrowed Macklin's bicycle the morning of the robbery. Melissa Roberts, a bank teller, testified she recognized the bank robber as Gibbs despite his mask. Two witnesses testified the bank robber left the bank on a bicycle. The police later found the bicycle abandoned next to a shoe print having the same outsole design of the shoe Gibbs was wearing the morning of the robbery. Gibbs admitted to Chad Moore, a person incarcerated in the Kershaw County Detention Center, he robbed the bank on a bicycle and escaped in a four-wheeler abandoned thereafter. A police detective testified the bicycle, when found, was laying down on tracks from a four-wheeler and the police discovered an abandoned four-wheeler after talking to Moore. Therefore, because competent evidence of Gibbs's guilt was presented at trial, Gibbs's convictions will not be set aside even if the statement was admitted in error. See Pagan, 369 S.C. at 212, 631 S.E.2d at 267 ("[A]ppellate courts will not set aside convictions due to insubstantial errors not affecting the result.").
AFFIRMED.
SHORT, WILLIAMS, and GEATHERS, JJ., concur.