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274 S.C. 26

260 S.E.2d 187

Cummings v. State

Supreme Court of South Carolina

Decided November 15, 1979

Supreme Court of South Carolina · decided 1979-11-15

Key passage — most relied on by later courts

“the failure to object to proceedings below waives the presentation of those issues on appeal,”

quoted by 1 later decision, including Wilson v. Ozmint

“in post-conviction absent an allegation of ineffective assistance of counsel.”

quoted by 1 later decision, including Wilson v. Ozmint

Relies on Simmons v. State · Miller v. State

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1979-11-15

How this case has been cited

Cited by 6 later decisions — most recently February 2004

2 federal appellate · 4 state decisions

301979198019902000decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

Per Curiam:

¶1 Respondent plead guilty to two (2) counts of possession with intent ito distribute unlawful drugs arising from two (2) separate indictments. He was sentenced to four (4) years imprisonment on each indictment, the sentences to run consecutively. He did not appeal but subsequently filed an application for Post-Conviction Relief alleging that his sentence was cruel and unusual punishment. Following a hearing, the lower court agreed and rescinded the sentence as to one (1) indictment. The State appeals.

¶2 We have held on numerous occasions that the failure to object to proceedings below waives the presentation of those issues on appeal. Miller v. State, 269 S. C. 113, 236 S. E. (2d) 422 (1977); 7A West’s S. C. Digest, Criminal Law, Key 1042. An application for Post-Conviction Relief is not a substitute for an appeal and errors which could have been reviewed on appeal may not be asserted for the first time, or reasserted in Post-Conviction proceedings. S. C. Code of Laws (1976), Section 17-27- *28 20(b); Simmons v. State, 264 S. C. 417, 215 S. E. (2d) 883 (1975).

¶3 At trial, respondent failed to object to the imposition of the sentence and, therefore, waived the right •to have that sentence reviewed on direct appeal, or to raise such issue on Post-Conviction absent an allegation of ineffective assistance of counsel.

¶4 Additionally, in the lower court, respondent argued that remarks by the trial judge prior to sentencing evidenced prejudice and .resulted in the imposition of an excessive sentence. It is sufficient to note that the sentences imposed were within the statutory limitations and there were no facts supporting an allegation of prejudice against the respondent.

¶5 Accordingly, the order of the lower court is reversed and the original sentence reinstated.

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