Court Opinion

ID: 9576762
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 21:28:13.189338+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:15:25.610728
License: Public Domain

FINNEY, Chief Justice:
I respectfully concur in part and dissent in part. I concur with the majority opinion insofar as it addresses and decides the only issue before the Court, that Whetsell v. State, 276 S.C. 295, 277 S.E.2d 891 (1981), does not bar collateral review of guilt phase issues when a capital defendant admits guilt1 during the sentencing phase of his trial. I dissent, however, from that part of the majority opinion which gratuitously addresses the merits of petitioner’s substantive Brady claim, and incorrectly holds the suppressed evidence was not material. I would simply omit footnote 2.

. I assume without deciding that we are bound by the law of the case to hold that petitioner’s penalty phase statement was an admission of guilt. See State v. Johnson, 306 S.C. 119, 410 S.E.2d 547 (1991).