Griffin v. State

Decision Date17 August 1993
Docket NumberNo. 23909,23909
Citation433 S.E.2d 862,315 S.C. 285
CourtSouth Carolina Supreme Court
PartiesRoger D. GRIFFIN, Respondent, v. STATE of South Carolina, Petitioner.

Atty. Gen. T. Travis Medlock, Chief Deputy Atty. Gen., Joseph D. Shine and Asst. Attys. Gen. Delbert H. Singleton, Jr. and Lisa Godwin Jefferson, Columbia, for petitioner.

Asst. Appellate Defender Robert M. Pachak, of SC Office of Appellate Defense, Columbia, for respondent.

TOAL, Justice:

The State appeals from an order granting Respondent's application for post-conviction relief. We AFFIRM.

Facts

The Respondent, Griffin, was indicted for murder in April 1984. On May 21, 1984, Griffin appeared before the court and entered a plea of guilty to voluntary manslaughter. Prior to the acceptance of the plea, the trial judge conducted a lengthy colloquy to determine the voluntariness of the plea. At the conclusion of the judge's questioning, the plea was accepted and Griffin was sentenced to thirty years imprisonment. Griffin did not appeal his guilty plea or sentence.

On July 1, 1991, Griffin filed an Application for Post-Conviction Relief. In his application, Griffin alleged, inter alia, that the State's application of the Omnibus Crime Bill, specifically the change from an annual review for parole eligibility to a biannual review, violated the ex post facto clause of the South Carolina and United States Constitutions. The PCR judge found that Griffin relied upon the annual review for parole eligibility in his decision to plead guilty, and that Griffin's constitutional rights under the ex post facto clause were violated. We granted the State's petition for certiorari to review the PCR court's order.

Law/Analysis

The State raises two issues on appeal. The first and pivotal issue is whether the PCR judge erred in ruling that Griffin suffered a violation of the ex post facto clause. The second issue is whether the PCR judge erred in finding that Griffin's plea of guilty to voluntary manslaughter was not knowingly, voluntarily, and intelligently entered.

We addressed this first issue in Gunter v. State, 298 S.C. 113, 378 S.E.2d 443 (1989). In Gunter, the applicant for post-conviction relief raised an ex post facto challenge to the change in parole eligibility review. Id. After examining the question, we held that:

the standards governing petitioner's parole eligibility have not ... changed. Instead, only the frequency with which petitioner can be reconsidered for parole has been altered. We find no ex post facto violation in the application of the questioned statute to petitioner.

Id. at 115-16, 378 S.E.2d at 444.

The PCR court distinguished Gunter on the grounds that Griffin had pled guilty and that Gunter was convicted at trial. This is not completely correct. While it is true Gunter was tried, convicted, and sentenced to thirty years for voluntary manslaughter we reversed the conviction in State v. Gunter, 286 S.C. 556, 335 S.E.2d 542 (1985). On remand, Gunter pled guilty to voluntary manslaughter and received a thirteen-year sentence. Our PCR holding in Gunter v. State, 298 S.C. 113, 378 S.E.2d 443 (1989), was rendered while Gunter was serving the thirteen year sentence as a result of his plea of guilty.

Since Gunter, we have held that "[t]he ex post facto clause protects against retroactive legislative provisions which are disadvantageous to the offender. A mere procedural change in law, not increasing punishment or changing elements of the offense, does not result in an ex post facto violation." Elmore v. State, 305 S.C. 456, 459, 409 S.E.2d 397, 399 (1991); see also Miller v. Florida, 482 U.S. 423, 107 S.Ct. 2446, 96 L.Ed.2d 351 (1987).

Respondent cites the recent Fourth Circuit decision in Roller v. Cavanaugh, 984 F.2d 120 (1993). In Roller, the Fourth Circuit Court of...

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16 cases
  • Anonymous (M-156-90) v. State Bd. of Medical Examiners, M-156-90
    • United States
    • Court of Appeals of South Carolina
    • June 6, 1996
  • Roller v. Gunn, 96-6992
    • United States
    • United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (4th Circuit)
    • February 19, 1997
    ...Constitutions. Gunter v. State of South Carolina, 298 S.C. 113, 378 S.E.2d 443, 444 (1989). However, in Griffin v. State of South Carolina, 315 S.C. 285, 433 S.E.2d 862, 863-64 (1993), the South Carolina Supreme Court, relying on Roller v. Cavanaugh, reversed Gunter. Given that the Griffin ......
  • State v. Von Dohlen
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Court of South Carolina
    • September 19, 1995
    ...not statutorily mandated. 305 S.C. at 67-68, 406 S.E.2d at 327-328. It is likewise not constitutionally mandated. See Griffin v. State, 315 S.C. 285, 433 S.E.2d 862 (1993) cert. denied, 510 U.S. 1093, 114 S.Ct. 924, 127 L.Ed.2d 217 (1994) (no ex post facto violation in mere procedural chang......
  • California Dept. Corrections v. Morales
    • United States
    • United States Supreme Court
    • April 25, 1995
    ...v. United States Parole Commission, 594 F.2d 170 (CA7 1979); State v. Reynolds, 138 N.H. 519, 642 A.2d 1368 (1994); Griffin v. State, 433 S.E.2d 862 (S.C.1993), cert. denied, 513 U.S. ----, 114 S.Ct. 924, 127 L.Ed.2d 217 (1994); Tiller v. Klincar, 138 Ill.2d 1, 149 Ill.Dec. 206, 561 N.E.2d ......
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