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State v. Jones3/12/2001
Appeal From Richland County H. Dean Hall, Circuit Court Judge
Heard January 11, 2001
AFFIRMED
Jones was convicted of three counts of armed robbery, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a violent crime; he was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole pursuant to S.C. Code Ann. § 17-25-45 (Supp. 2000), commonly known as the "Two-Strikes" law. We affirm.
FACTS
At 3:30 AM on the morning of June 29, 1997, the three victims in this case, Dwayne Wright, Theodore Wheeler and Ricardo Wheeler, were robbed at gunpoint by an unknown assailant.
In late July 1997, approximately three and one-half weeks after the robbery, police showed each victim, independently, a photographic line-up of six individuals; all three victims identified Jones as the person who robbed them. Jones was arrested and charged with three counts of armed robbery, possession of a firearm during commission of a violent crime, and failure to stop for a blue light. He was convicted of the armed robbery and possession of a firearm counts; he was found not guilty of failing to stop for a blue light. He was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole under S.C. Code Ann. § 17-25-45 (Supp. 2000), the Two-Strikes law, due to his prior conviction of a "most serious" offense.
ISSUES
1. Was Jones properly tried for three counts of armed robbery?
2. Is a sentence of life imprisonment without parole after commission of one "most serious" offense constitutionally permissible?
3. Did the court err in refusing a Telfaire charge?
1. THREE COUNTS OF ARMED ROBBERY
Jones was separately indicted for the armed robbery of each victim. He contends, citing State v. Waller, 280 S.C. 300, 312 S.E.2d 552 (1984), the three counts should have been "rolled into a single count" as the goods were taken from three victims simultaneously. Waller does not control the present case.
In Waller, the defendant broke into an apartment occupied by three roommates and stole property belonging to each. The solicitor decided to aggregate the value of the items taken and charge Waller with grand larceny. On appeal, Waller contended the value of property taken from more than one owner could not be aggregated so as to sustain a conviction for grand larceny. This Court affirmed Waller's conviction under prior case law which suggested a prosecutor could elect to prosecute for one larceny or several larcenies. However, the Waller Court decided to follow the majority of cases which hold the larceny of property from different owners at the same time and place constitutes one larceny. The Court held, "henceforth, the larceny of property from different owners at the same time and at the same place shall be prosecuted only as a single larceny." 280 S.C. at 301, 312 S.E.2d at 553.
Waller is inapplicable here.
The rationale for the single larceny rule is that "the act of taking is one continuous act or transaction, and since the gist of the offense is the felonious taking of property, the legal quality of the act is not affected by the fact that the property stolen belonged to different persons." D.H. White, Single or Separate Larceny Predicated Upon Stealing Property From Different Owners at the Same Time, 37 A.L.R.3d 1407, 1410 § 2 (1971) (emphasis supplied). Larceny is the misdemeanor offense of taking or carrying away of goods valued at less than $1000.
The fundamental distinction between larceny and armed robbery, in our view, lies in the fact that armed robbery is a crime of violence. See S.C. Code Ann. § 16-1-60 (Supp. 2000). Although armed robbery is contained i
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