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.

THE STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA
In The Supreme Court

Donald Burton, Petitioner,

v.

State of South Carolina, Respondent.

Appeal from Spartanburg County
Roger L. Crouch, Circuit Court Judge
Michael G. Nettles, Post-Conviction Relief Judge

Memorandum Opinion No. 2009-MO-043
Submitted August 6, 2009 � Filed August 10, 2009

APPEAL DISMISSED

Deputy Chief Appellate Defender Wanda H. Carter, of the South Carolina Commission on Indigent Defense, Division of Appellate Defense, of Columbia, for Petitioner.

Attorney General Henry Dargan McMaster, Chief Deputy Attorney General John W. McIntosh, Assistant Deputy Attorney General Salley W. Elliot, and Assistant Attorney General Michelle J. Parsons, all of the Office of the Attorney General, of Columbia, for Respondent.

PER CURIAM:� Petitioner seeks a writ of certiorari from the denial of his application for post-conviction relief (PCR).

Because there is sufficient evidence to support the PCR judge�s finding that petitioner did not knowingly and intelligently waive his right to a direct appeal, we grant the petition for a writ of certiorari, dispense with further briefing, and proceed with a review of the direct appeal issue pursuant to Davis v. State, 288 S.C. 290, 342 S.E.2d 60 (1986).

Counsel for petitioner has filed a brief pursuant to Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738 (1967), and a petition to be relieved as counsel.� Petitioner has not filed a pro se response.� After a thorough review of the record pursuant to Anders, we dismiss the direct appeal issue and grant the petition to be relieved as counsel.

DISMISSED.

TOAL, C.J., WALLER, PLEICONES, BEATTY and KITTREDGE, JJ., concur.���������