THE STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA
In The Court of Appeals


The State,        Respondent,                                                                                          

v.

Stafford Kearse, Jr.,        Appellant.


Appeal from Bamberg County
William P. Keesley, Circuit Court Judge


Unpublished Opinion No. 2003-UP-532
Submitted May 30, 2003 – Filed September 4, 2003


APPEAL DISMISSED


Assistant Appellate Defender Tara S. Taggart, 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 Barbara R. Morgan, of Aiken, for Respondent.


PER CURIAM:  Stafford Kearse, Jr., appeals his plea of guilty to first-degree criminal sexual conduct and kidnapping.  The judge sentenced Kearse to thirty years imprisonment for each offense.  The sentences were to be served concurrently.

Pursuant to Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738 (1967), counsel for Kearse attached to the final brief a petition to be relieved as counsel, stating she had reviewed the record and concluded Kearse’s appeal of his guilty plea is without legal merit sufficient to warrant a new trial.  Kearse did not file 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.