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South Carolina
Judicial Department
Supreme Court Published Opinions - June 2024

Note: Beginning in June 2012, opinions will be posted as Adobe PDFs. You can download a free copy of Adobe Reader here.

The summary following each opinion is prepared to offer lawyers and the public a general overview of what a particular opinion decides. The summary is not necessarily a full description of the issues discussed in an opinion.


6-5-2024 - Opinions

28206 - The State v. Eric E. English

We affirm as modified in part and vacate in part the court of appeals' decision in State v. English, 436 S.C. 338, 872 S.E.2d 191 (Ct. App. 2022). We overrule State v. James, 255 S.C. 365, 179 S.E.2d 41 (1971) because it has been abrogated by modern jurisprudence interpreting the Sixth Amendment's Confrontation Clause. Applying modern precedent, we hold Eric English's and Jamie Stroman's STD test reports were nontestimonial and, therefore, did not violate English's Sixth Amendment right of confrontation. We vacate the portion of the court of appeals' decision holding that the test reports were admissible as business records under Rule 803(6), SCRE because that issue was unpreserved for appellate review.

6-20-2024 - Opinions

28207 - In the Matter of Shelton Martin Tate

28208 - In the Matter of Candy M. Kern

28209 - In the Matter of Brian Austin Katonak

28210 - The State v. Charles Wakefield, Jr.

6-26-2024 - Opinions

28211 - Orthofix v. SCDOR

The Court affirms the circuit court's decision as modified, finding section 12-36-2120(74) of the South Carolina Code (2014) violates the dormant Commerce Clause in part, and declining to sever the unconstitutional language from the remainder of the subsection.

28212 - Samuel Paulino v. Diversified Coatings, Inc.

The workers' compensation commission awarded Samuel Paulino total and permanent disability benefits because it found he sustained a fifty percent or greater loss of use to his back. The court of appeals reversed the commission's award "because there is no medical evidence in the record that supported the [commission's] findings." In making this ruling, the court of appeals misapplied the "substantial evidence" standard for reviewing decisions of the commission. We reverse the court of appeals and reinstate the commission's award.

28213 - The State v. Gabrielle Oliva Lashane Davis-Kocsis

Davis-Kocsis was convicted of murder, two counts of kidnapping, first-degree burglary, and criminal conspiracy. The court of appeals affirmed. We granted Davis-Kocsis's petition for a writ of certiorari to address two issues. The first is whether section 16-3-910 of the South Carolina Code (2015) prohibits sentencing a defendant for kidnapping and murder when the kidnapping and murder victims are different. The second is whether the trial court erred in admitting a recording of a 911 call over a Rule 403, SCRE objection. We affirm the court of appeals.