THE STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA
In the Court of Appeals

The State,        Respondent,

v.

Wallace Duncan, Jr.,        Appellant.

Appeal From Marion County
James E. Brogdon, Jr., Circuit Court Judge

Unpublished Opinion No. 2003-UP-531
Submitted May 30, 2003 – Filed September 4, 2003

APPEAL DISMISSED

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

Attorney General Henry Dargan McMaster, Chief Deputy Attorney General John W. McIntosh, Assistant Deputy Attorney General Donald J. Zelenka, all of Columbia;  and Solicitor Edgar Lewis Clements, III, of Florence, for Respondent.

PER CURIAM:  Wallace Duncan, Jr., appeals his plea of guilty to voluntary manslaughter.  The judge sentenced Duncan to twenty years imprisonment.

Pursuant to Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738 (1967), counsel for Duncan attached to the final brief a petition to be relieved as counsel, stating he had reviewed the record and concluded Duncan’s appeal of his guilty plea is without legal merit sufficient to warrant a new trial.  Duncan 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.