THE STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA
In The Court of Appeals

The State,        Respondent,

v.

Larkland Richards,        Appellant.


Appeal From Aiken County
William P. Keesley, Circuit Court Judge


Unpublished Opinion No. 2003-UP-167
Submitted January 10, 2003 – Filed February 27, 2003   


APPEAL DISMISSED


Assistant Appellate Defender Aileen P. Clare, of Columbia.

Attorney General Henry Dargan McMaster Chief Deputy Attorney General John W. McIntosh Assistant Deputy Attorney General Charles H. Richardson, of Columbia; Barbara R. Morgan, of Aiken; for Respondent.

PER CURIAM:  Larkland Richards appeals his guilty plea to distribution of crack cocaine, second offense.  Richards argues the trial court violated the mandate of Boykin v. Alabama, 395 U.S. 238 (1965), by accepting his guilty plea because his plea was not knowingly and voluntarily entered.  Richards’s counsel attached to the brief a petition to be relieved as counsel, stating she had reviewed the record and concluded Richards’s appeal lacks merit.  After a thorough review of the record and counsel’s brief pursuant to Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738 (1967), and State v. Williams, 305 S.C. 116, 406 S.E.2d 357 (1991), we dismiss [1] Richards’s appeal and grant counsel’s motion to be relieved.

APPEAL DISMISSED.

HEARN, C.J., GOOLSBY and SHULER, JJ., concur.


[1] We decide this case without oral argument pursuant to Rule 215, SCACR.