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.

William Emmanuel Upton, Appellant.

Appeal From Cherokee County
 Roger L. Couch, Circuit Court Judge

Unpublished Opinion No. 2006-UP-206
Submitted April 1, 2006 – Filed April 14, 2006   

APPEAL DISMISSED

Assistant Appellate Defender Tara S. Taggart, Office of Appellate Defense, of Columbia, Appellant.

Attorney General Henry Dargan McMaster, Chief Deputy Attorney General John W. McIntosh, Assistant Deputy Attorney General Salley W. Elliott, Office of the Attorney General, all of Columbia; and Solicitor Harold W. Gowdy, III, of Spartanburg, for Respondent.

PER CURIAM: William Emmanuel Upton appeals his convictions for two counts of criminal sexual conduct with a minor, second degree.  The trial judge sentenced Upton to two concurrent terms of ten years imprisonment, suspended upon the service of eight years with two years probation.

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

After a thorough review of the record and brief 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.[1]

BEATTY, SHORT, and WILLIAMS, JJ., concur.

[1]  Because oral argument would not aid the court in resolving the issues on appeal, we decide this case without oral argument pursuant to Rule 215, SCACR.