Opinion
2015-MO-033
06-10-2015
The State, Respondent, v. Christopher Ryan Whitehead, Petitioner. Appellate Case No. 2012-213683
Appellate Defender LaNelle Cantey DuRant, of Columbia, for Petitioner. Attorney General Alan M. Wilson, Chief Deputy Attorney General John W. McIntosh, Senior Assistant Deputy Attorney General Donald J. Zelenka, Senior Assistant Attorney General Melody J. Brown, and Solicitor Daniel E. Johnson, all of Columbia, for the Respondent.
UNPUBLISHED OPINION
Heard December 11, 2014.
ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE COURT OF APPEALS
Appeal from Kershaw County G. Thomas Cooper, Jr., Circuit Court Judge
Appellate Defender LaNelle Cantey DuRant, of Columbia, for Petitioner.
Attorney General Alan M. Wilson, Chief Deputy Attorney General John W. McIntosh, Senior Assistant Deputy Attorney General Donald J. Zelenka, Senior Assistant Attorney General Melody J. Brown, and Solicitor Daniel E. Johnson, all of Columbia, for the Respondent.
KITTREDGE, JUSTICE.
We granted a writ of certiorari to review the court of appeals' unpublished opinion in State v. Whitehead, Op. No. 2012-UP-526 (S.C. Ct. App. filed Sept. 12, 2012). For the reasons set forth in State v. McDonald, 412 S.C. 133, 771 S.E.2d 840 (2015), we affirm as modified. While the admission of the codefendants' statements violated the Confrontation Clause, in view of the overwhelming evidence of guilt, the error was harmless.
U.S. Const. amend. VI; see Bruton v. United States, 391 U.S. 123 (1968).
AFFIRMED AS MODIFIED.
TOAL, C. J, PLEICONES, BEATTY and HEARN, JJ., concur.