THIS OPINION HAS NO PRECEDENTIAL VALUE.  IT SHOULD NOT BE CITED OR RELIED ON AS PRECEDENT IN ANY PROCEEDING EXCEPT AS PROVIDED BY RULE 239(d)(2), SCACR.

THE STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA
In The Court of Appeals

The State, Respondent,

v.

Edward Leon Bates, III, Appellant.

Appeal from Richland County
 Reginald I. Lloyd, Circuit Court Judge

Unpublished Opinion No. 2008-UP-601
Submitted October 1, 2008 – Filed October 28, 2008   

APPEAL DISMISSED

Appellate Defender Eleanor Duffy Cleary, of Columbia, for Appellant.

Attorney General Henry Dargan McMaster, Chief Deputy Attorney General John W. McIntosh, and Assistant Deputy Attorney General Salley W. Elliot, and Solicitor Warren B. Giese, all of Columbia, for Respondent.

PER CURIAM:  Bates was convicted of armed robbery, and sentenced to life without parole.  On appeal, Bates’s counsel argues the court erred in sentencing Bates to life without parole because the sentencing statute, as applied to Bates, violates the constitutional prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.  Bates also filed a pro se brief.  After a thorough review of the record and briefs 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 the appeal and grant counsel’s motion to be relieved.[1]

APPEAL DISMISSED.

HEARN, C.J., HUFF and GEATHERS, JJ., concur.

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