Opinion
2014-UP-244
06-25-2014
The State, Respondent, v. Rico Green, Appellant. Appellate Case No. 2013-000441
Appellate Defender Robert M. Pachak, of Columbia, for Appellant. Attorney General Alan McCrory Wilson and Senior Assistant Deputy Attorney General Salley W. Elliott, both of Columbia; and Solicitor Douglas A. Barfield, Jr., of Lancaster, for Respondent.
UNPUBLISHED OPINION
Submitted May 1, 2014
Appeal From Lancaster County Brooks P. Goldsmith, Circuit Court Judge
Appellate Defender Robert M. Pachak, of Columbia, for Appellant.
Attorney General Alan McCrory Wilson and Senior Assistant Deputy Attorney General Salley W. Elliott, both of Columbia; and Solicitor Douglas A. Barfield, Jr., of Lancaster, for Respondent.
PER CURIAM.
Rico Green appeals his guilty pleas for trafficking in cocaine ten to twenty-eight grams and trafficking in cocaine base ten to twenty-eight grams, arguing the circuit court erred in accepting his impermissibly conditional guilty pleas. We hold the circuit court did not err in accepting Green's guilty pleas. "[I]n South Carolina, a guilty plea constitutes a waiver of nonjurisdictional defects and claims of violations of constitutional rights." State v. Rice, 401 S.C. 330, 331-32, 737 S.E.2d 485, 485 (2013). Although the circuit court may not accept a conditional guilty plea, Green never sought to preserve an issue or subject his guilty pleas to any condition. Instead, the record reveals Green simply decided to plead guilty after the circuit court denied his pre-trial motions. Accordingly, the circuit court did not err in accepting Green's guilty pleas.
See In re Johnny Lee W., 371 S.C. 217, 220, 638 S.E.2d 682, 684 (2006) ("A [circuit] court may not accept a conditional guilty plea.").
We decide this case without oral argument pursuant to Rule 215, SCACR.
HUFF, THOMAS, and LOCKEMY, JJ., concur.