THIS OPINION HAS NO PRECEDENTIAL VALUE.  IT SHOULD NOT BE CITED OR RELIED ON AS PRECEDENT IN ANY PROCEEDING EXCEPT AS PROVIDED BY RULE 268(d)(2), SCACR.

THE STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA
In The Court of Appeals

The State, Respondent,

v.

Charles Edward Owens, Appellant.

Appeal from Cherokee County
Doyet A. Early, III, Circuit Court Judge

Unpublished Opinion No. 2010-UP-034
Submitted January 4, 2010 – Filed January 26, 2010  

APPEAL DISMISSED

Appellate Defender M. Celia Robinson, of Columbia, for Appellant.

Attorney General Henry Dargan McMaster, Chief Deputy Attorney General John W. McIntosh, Assistant Deputy Attorney General Salley W. Elliott, all of Columbia; and Solicitor Harold W. Gowdy, III, of Spartanburg, for Respondent.

PER CURIAM:  Charles Edward Owens appeals his conviction for criminal sexual conduct with a minor in the second degree.  Owens argues the trial court erred as a matter of law in submitting the charge of assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature to the jury as he was not indicted for this offense.  Owens' counsel attached to the brief a petition to be relieved as counsel, stating that she had reviewed the record and concluded that the appeal is without legal merit sufficient to warrant a new trial.  Owens filed a pro se brief.

After a thorough review of the record, the pro se brief, and counsel's brief pursuant to Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738 (1967), and State v. Williams, 305 S.C. 116, 406 S.E.2d 357 (1991), we dismiss the appeal and grant counsel's motion to be relieved.[1]

APPEAL DISMISSED.

HUFF, A.C.J., GEATHERS, J., and CURETON, A.J., concur.

[1] We decide this case without oral argument pursuant to Rule 215, SCACR.