Court Opinion

ID: 9624076
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 06:50:09.904327+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:05:38.583941
License: Public Domain

SHULER, J.,
concurring:
I agree with the decision to affirm this case but write separately because I believe the element of first degree burglary found in § 16-11-311(A)(2) simply requires the State to prove at least two earlier convictions for burglary and/or housebreaking. Thus, in my view, the statutory language referencing “two or more” prior convictions does not mandate the admission of James’ entire prior record for burglary; rather, the admissibility of his prior convictions is governed by traditional rules of evidence.
Hamilton and Benton do not dispense with the requirement that all evidence be more probative than prejudicial. Instead, these cases merely hold that two prior convictions for burgla*311ry, where necessary to prove an essential element of the crime charged, are inherently more probative than prejudicial. See Benton, 338 S.C. at 155-56, 526 S.E.2d at 230 (“For purposes of an element of first degree burglary under § 16 — 11— 311(A)(2), we conclude the probative value of admitting the defendant’s prior burglary and/or housebreaking convictions is not outweighed by its prejudicial effect.”); see also Hamilton, 327 S.C. at 446, 486 S.E.2d at 515 (implicitly finding two prior convictions more probative than prejudicial because they were an element of the crime that the State was required to prove; the court noted that had the convictions been ruled inadmissible, “there would have been a substantial gap in the evidence necessary for the jury to convict Hamilton of burglary in the first degree”).
While I feel constrained by Benton and Hamilton to find the trial court did not err in admitting all seven burglary convictions, see, e.g., Hamilton, 327 S.C. at 445, 486 S.E.2d at 514 (citing the “fundamental principle” that the State “is entitled to prove its case with evidence of its own choosing”), I am mindful that neither case involved the admission of more than two prior convictions into evidence. To me, it is readily apparent that the problem arising from this case, the seemingly unnecessary introduction of extremely prejudicial evidence of numerous prior burglary convictions, stems directly from what appears to be a general prosecutorial policy of refusing to accept a defendant’s offer to admit the validity of the predicate prior convictions. In my view, just because the State is entitled to reject a defendant’s “stipulation” in this regard does not mean that in the interest of fairness it should.