State v. Venters, 23132
| Decision Date | 13 November 1989 |
| Docket Number | No. 23132,23132 |
| Citation | 387 S.E.2d 270,300 S.C. 260 |
| Court | South Carolina Supreme Court |
| Parties | The STATE, Respondent, v. Joe Randall VENTERS, Appellant. . Heard |
Chief Atty. David I. Bruck and Deputy Chief Atty. Elizabeth C. Fullwood, of South Carolina Office of Appellate Defense, Columbia, for appellant.
Attorney Gen. T. Travis Medlock, Asst. Attys. Gen. Harold M. Coombs, Jr., and William Edgar Salter, III, Columbia, and Sol. Wade S. Kolb, Jr., Sumter, for respondent.
Appellant Joe Randall Venters was convicted of driving under a suspended license. Prior to this prosecution appellant was convicted three times in South Carolina for driving under a suspended license. Appellant subsequently obtained an Alabama driver's license. On October 14, 1987, appellant was ticketed in South Carolina for a speeding violation. The ticketing officer testified that appellant gave him a South Carolina address, but handed him an Alabama license. A check on appellant's prior South Carolina license showed that although the fixed period of suspension of his South Carolina license had ended, appellant's license continued to be technically suspended pending compliance with South Carolina's Financial Responsibility Act. Appellant was arrested and convicted for his fourth offense of driving under a suspended license. This appeal follows.
In instructing the jury, the trial judge included the following:
I further charge you that [the] privilege [to drive] once revoked can remain revoked regardless of whether or not that individual has a valid driver's license from some other state. He may have a privilege to drive in any number of states but it is the privilege that is, in fact, revoked, in South Carolina. It is unlawful to drive in South Carolina while that status of suspension still remains.
Appellant argues that this was an erroneous instruction. We agree. The applicable law in this case is S.C.Code Ann. § 56-1-475 (Supp.1988) which states:
... [A]ny person whose driver's license has been suspended by the State Department of Highways and Public Transportation who has moved his residence to another state and has obtained a valid driver's license in such state may lawfully operate a motor vehicle within this State after the expiration of the period of time for which his South Carolina driver's license was suspended.
This statute provides that a person who has moved from South Carolina and established a permanent residence in another state is permitted to drive in South Carolina pursuant to a valid driver's license from the other state after the expiration of the fixed suspension period in South Carolina.
In this case, appellant's fixed period of the South Carolina suspension had expired and his South Carolina license remained only technically suspended because he had not provided proof of insurance under the South Carolina Financial Responsibility Act. The evidence also showed that appellant possessed an Alabama driver's license, which the police officer testified was valid. However, a factual dispute existed as to whether appellant was a resident of South Carolina or Alabama. Appellant's position is that he is a resident of Alabama and was a resident of Alabama at the time he was ticketed in South Carolina. However, the ticketing officer testified appellant told him that he was a resident of South Carolina.
Under Section 56-1-475, if the jury found appellant to be a South Carolina resident, he would have been unlawfully driving under a suspended license for failure to comply with insurance requirements set forth in the South Carolina Financial Responsibility Act. However, if found to be a resident of Alabama, appellant would have been entitled to an acquittal under Section 56-1-475 because he would not need to comply with the South Carolina insurance requirements.
Under the trial judge's construction of Section 56-1-475, the jury could not have acquitted appellant even if they found him to be an Alabama resident. The trial judge's instruction provided that once an individual's license has been revoked or suspended in South Carolina, that person can never drive in South Carolina even if he becomes a nonresident, obtains a license in another state, and...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
State v. Kelsey
...must find that the case was properly submitted to the jury. State v. Rowell, 326 S.C. 313, 487 S.E.2d 185 (1997); State v. Venters, 300 S.C. 260, 387 S.E.2d 270 (1990); State v. Edwards, 298 S.C. 272, 379 S.E.2d 888 (1989). In ruling on a motion for a directed verdict, the trial court is co......
-
State v. Cherry, 3406.
...C. The "Any Direct Evidence or Substantial Circumstantial Evidence" Standard In articulating its scope of review in State v. Venters, 300 S.C. 260, 387 S.E.2d 270 (1990), the Supreme Court amalgamated the language of the various standards present in the case law: In reviewing a denial of a ......
-
State v. Cherry
...the case was properly submitted to the jury. State v. Harris, 351 S.C. 643, 653, 572 S.E.2d 267, 273 (2002); State v. Venters, 300 S.C. 260, 264, 387 S.E.2d 270, 272-73 (1990). See also State v. Gaster, supra (on an appeal from trial court's denial of a motion for a directed verdict, appell......
-
State v. Wilds, 3668.
...to prove the guilt of the accused, an appellate court must find the case was properly submitted to the jury. State v. Venters, 300 S.C. 260, 264, 387 S.E.2d 270, 272-73 (1990); State v. Patterson, 337 S.C. 215, 232, 522 S.E.2d 845, 853 (Ct.App.1999). LAW/ANALYSIS Wilds contends the court er......