State v. Charping

Decision Date07 December 1992
Docket NumberNo. 23942,23942
Citation437 S.E.2d 88,313 S.C. 147
CourtSouth Carolina Supreme Court
PartiesThe STATE, Respondent, v. James Michael CHARPING, Appellant. . Heard

Chief Appellate Defender Daniel T. Stacey, of the South Carolina Office of Appellate Defense, Columbia, for appellant.

Attorney General T. Travis Medlock, Chief Deputy Atty. Gen. Donald J. Zelenka, Criminal Appeals Section Chief Harold M. Coombs, Jr., Asst. Atty. Gen. William Edgar Salter, III, Columbia, and Sol. Donald V. Myers, of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit, for respondent.

HARWELL, Chief Justice:

James Michael Charping (Charping) appeals from the convictions and death sentence he received for his alleged role in the brutal rape and murder of Joann Pruitt (Pruitt). We reverse.

I. FACTS

Late on the evening of February 1, 1990, Charping, Jeffrey Whitlock, and John Thoman (Thoman), drove Pruitt to an isolated pond in Lexington County where she was raped, severely beaten, and drowned. At 1:21 a.m. on February 2, Thoman reported Pruitt's murder by telephone from his home and told police that Charping and Whitlock were returning to the scene to conceal Pruitt's body. Acting on Thoman's information, police arrested Charping and Whitlock at the pond. A jury convicted Charping of conspiracy, kidnapping, first degree criminal sexual conduct, and murder and sentenced him to death. Charping appealed.

II. DISCUSSION

Charping contends that the trial judge erred by failing to obtain a knowing and voluntary waiver of his right to make the final argument to the jury in the guilt phase. We agree.

S.C.Code Ann. § 16-3-28 (Supp.1991) provides:

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, in any criminal trial where the maximum penalty is death or in a separate sentencing proceeding following such trial, the defendant and his counsel shall have the right to make the last argument. (Emphasis added).

The 1986 amendment to section 16-3-28, which substituted "defendant and his counsel" for "defendant or his counsel," clearly indicates that the legislature intended for capital defendants to have a personal right to make the last argument in both phases of their trials. As with other constitutional and statutory rights, we have held that a waiver of the right granted by section 16-3-28 must be knowingly and voluntarily made on the record. See State v. Orr, 304 S.C. 185, 403 S.E.2d 623 (1991) (knowing and voluntary waiver of the right to last argument must be satisfied by a full record); State v. Reed, 293 S.C. 515, 362 S.E.2d 13 (1987) (denial of a defendant's right to make a final argument is reversible error absent a knowing and voluntary waiver of the right on the record). The State concedes that there was no such waiver in this case. Accordingly, we reverse Charping's murder conviction and remand his case for a new trial. 1 Our ruling makes it unnecessary for us to address Charping's remaining exceptions.

Charping's convictions for kidnapping, first degree criminal sexual conduct, and conspiracy are unaffected by trial errors raised for the first time on appeal and, therefore, are affirmed. State v. Williams, 303 S.C. 410, 401 S.E.2d 168 (1991).

AFFIRMED IN PART, REVERSED IN PART, AND REMANDED.

CHANDLER, FINNEY, JJ., concur.

GOOLSBY, Acting Associate Justice and TOAL, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part in separate opinion.

GOOLSBY, Acting Associate Justice (concurring in part and dissenting in part):

I concur in the majority's affirmance of James Michael Charping's convictions and sentences for kidnapping, criminal sexual conduct in the first degree, and criminal conspiracy. I respectfully dissent from the majority's reversal of Charping's conviction for capital murder and of his death sentence. I do not think the mere failure of the record to reflect a waiver by Charping of his statutory right to make a personal, closing jury argument during the guilt-determination phase of his trial for capital murder and other offenses warrants a reversal of his murder conviction and death sentence. It certainly does not warrant an automatic one.

The Lexington County Grand Jury indicted James Michael Charping and Jeffrey Whitlock for the murder of Joann D. Pruitt. The indictment also charged the two with kidnapping, criminal sexual conduct in the first degree, and criminal conspiracy . Following a pretrial hearing, the trial court severed Charping's case from Whitlock's.

A jury trial conducted on April 22 through April 29, 1991, resulted in Charping's being found guilty on all the charges alleged in the indictment. After a sentencing proceeding, the jury recommended Charping be sentenced to death. The jury specifically found Joann's murder was accompanied by aggravating circumstances, namely, kidnapping, criminal sexual conduct, and physical torture. The trial judge followed the jury's recommendation and sentenced Charping to death for murder. He also sentenced Charping to thirty years imprisonment for criminal sexual conduct and five years imprisonment for criminal conspiracy.

The issues on appeal arise out of both the guilt-determination and the sentence-determination phases of the trial. Those that arise out of the guilt-determination phase concern Charping's right to make a personal, closing jury argument; the trial judge's charge on circumstantial evidence; the trial judge's charge on expert testimony; and the admission of certain testimony challenged as hearsay. Those that arise out of the sentence-determination phase concern the curative measures taken by the trial judge after learning that jurors had read a certain news article; the solicitor's closing jury argument; the failure of the trial judge specifically to charge the jury, either orally or in writing, certain non-statutory mitigating circumstances; the failure of the trial judge to charge the jury that its findings of mitigation need not be unanimous; the use of the offense of kidnapping as an aggravating circumstance; the failure of the trial judge to charge the jury that the State must prove Charping's specific intent to establish any statutory aggravating circumstance; the trial judge's charge on expert testimony; and the admission of certain photographs challenged as inflammatory. The issues on appeal also include the question of whether the cumulative impact of the asserted errors requires a reversal of Charping's convictions and of his sentences.

The evidence given at trial tells of awful, terrible crimes committed by Charping against Joann Pruitt. To describe her rape and murder as merely brutal is an understatement. The State relied heavily on the eyewitness account provided by John Thoman in his testimony. It also relied on the testimony of Vanessa Thoman, Charping's girl friend and John Thoman's sister.

On February 1, 1990, shortly after 5:30 p.m., Thoman joined Vanessa, Charping, and Jeffrey Whitlock in Charping's trailer where Charping lived with Vanessa and Whitlock. Thoman began drinking beer. Charping and Whitlock were drinking vodka.

Later on, Thoman asked Whitlock if he knew where Thoman could buy some marijuana. After Whitlock made a couple of telephone calls, he found someone who agreed to help them.

Thoman, Whitlock, and Charping left the trailer to pick up the person around 8:30 p.m. After stopping briefly at a gasoline station, they drove into Richland County to a house where they picked up Joann Pruitt. The four then went to a trailer in Lexington County where Joann, leaving the men in the car, entered the trailer and bought a quarter ounce of marijuana from Barbara Crabtree. She gave the marijuana to Thoman.

A little while later, they stopped at a Texaco station. Thoman and Whitlock went inside and bought rolling papers for the marijuana.

When they came back outside, Joann was inside the car. Charping stood by the car and pointed down through its roof at Joann. He said in a low tone, "Hey, man, I'm going to kill this bitch."

With Charping driving, the four left the station and got onto Interstate-26. Shortly afterward, Charping said the car was acting up and he was going by his parents' home in Gaston to get some oil. Joann told him to hurry because she had to get home.

Charping, however, drove past the exit that led to his parents' home and got off at another exit. He drove to a pond located off a dirt road in an isolated, wooded area of rural Lexington County.

Charping and Whitlock got out of the automobile, purportedly to urinate. They talked for several minutes and returned to the car.

Charping told Thoman to get out of the car. Before he could get out, however, Charping hit Joann and pulled her from the car. When Joann asked him why he had struck her, Charping answered by striking her three or four more times.

Charping took Joann a short distance into the woods, returning with her a little while later. Joann was begging to go home. Charping, however, told her "to chill out."

Eventually, Charping asked Joann if she would have sexual relations with all three of them. When she refused and said she was not that kind of girl, Charping struck her in the head with his fist, almost knocking her down. Charping then grabbed her, stood her up, and hit her three or more times.

Charping next took Joann back into the woods, telling Thoman and Whitlock of his intention to rape her.

Thoman and Whitlock remained at the car. Over the next twenty-five minutes, they occasionally heard Charping raise his voice, cursing Joann.

Charping later called for Whitlock and Thoman to join him in the woods. Whitlock went immediately, but Thoman stayed a few more minutes at the car. When he finally walked to where Charping and Whitlock had Joann, he saw she was on her hands and knees. She was nude, except for her socks.

Whitlock had his pants down, was on his knees, and was claiming to be having anal sex with her. All the while, Charping was exhorting Whitlock in a loud voice and was beating Joann with his hands...

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  • State v. Adams, 3640.
    • United States
    • Court of Appeals of South Carolina
    • May 5, 2003
    ...the error was harmless. Error is harmless where it could not reasonably have affected the result of the trial. State v. Charping, 313 S.C. 147, 437 S.E.2d 88 (1993); State v. Burton, 326 S.C. 605, 486 S.E.2d 762 (Ct.App.1997). Generally, appellate courts will not set aside convictions due t......
  • State v. Bowers
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    • United States State Supreme Court of South Carolina
    • June 29, 2022
    ...the error complained of did not contribute to the verdict obtained" (internal quotation marks omitted) (quoting State v. Charping , 313 S.C. 147, 157, 437 S.E.2d 88, 94 (1993) )).3 If we have any reasonable doubt as to whether the erroneous charge contributed to the verdict, we must affirm ......
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    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Court of South Carolina
    • November 23, 1998
    ...conduct, and was sentenced to death. This Court reversed his murder conviction and remanded for a new trial.1State v. Charping, 313 S.C. 147, 437 S.E.2d 88 (1993) (Charping I ). Charping was again convicted of murder and sentenced to death. We FACTS Charping, along with cohorts Jeffrey Whit......
  • State v. Chavis, 27491.
    • United States
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    • February 4, 2015
    ...beyond a reasonable doubt that the error complained of did not contribute to the verdict obtained.’ ” (quoting State v. Charping, 313 S.C. 147, 157, 437 S.E.2d 88, 94 (1993) )), with State v. Bryant, 369 S.C. 511, 518, 633 S.E.2d 152, 156 (2006) (“[A]n insubstantial error not affecting the ......
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