THE STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA
In The Court of Appeals

The State,        Respondent,

v.

Mark Norman Kaplan,        Appellant.

Appeal From Horry County
Sidney T. Floyd, Circuit Court Judge

Unpublished Opinion No.2003-UP-530
Submitted May 30, 2003 – Filed September 4, 2003  

APPEAL DISMISSED

Assistant Appellate Defender Robert M. Pachak, of Columbia, for Appellant.

Attorney General Henry Dargan McMaster, Chief Deputy Attorney General John W. McIntosh, Assistant Deputy Attorney General Charles H. Richardson, all of Columbia;  and Solicitor John Gregory Hembree, of Conway, for Respondent.

PER CURIAM:  Mark Norman Kaplan appeals his conviction for armed robbery.  The trial judge sentenced Kaplan to twenty years imprisonment.  The judge denied Kaplan’s motion for reconsideration of the sentence.

Pursuant to Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738 (1967), counsel for Kaplan attached to the final brief a petition to be relieved as counsel, stating he had reviewed the record and concluded Kaplan’s appeal is without legal merit sufficient to warrant a new trial.  Kaplan filed a separate pro se response.

After a thorough review of the record pursuant to Anders and State v. Williams, 305 S.C. 116, 406 S.E.2d 357 (1991), we dismiss the appeal and grant counsel’s petition to be relieved.

APPEAL DISMISSED.

HEARN, C.J., CONNOR and ANDERSON, JJ., concur.