The South Carolina Court of Appeals has dismissed the appeal 44-year-old man who pleaded guilty in 2013 to the armed robbery of the Bank of Clarendon earlier that year. In its decision, released Wednesday, the court has also relieved the man's appellate defender, Robert M. Pachak of Columbia.
Andrew Lee Blackmon pleaded guilty to armed robbery, and was sentenced by Circuit Court Judge W. Jeffrey Young to 15 years in prison. According to the state Department of Corrections, he is scheduled for release on Oct. 22, 2025.
In an unpublished opinion, the Court of Appeals cited a U.S. Supreme Court case in both rejecting Blackmon's handwritten brief and allowing his court-appointed appellate attorney to leave the case.
In Anders v. California, the U.S. Supreme Court decided in 1967 that a court-appointed attorney may be relieved from the appeal of a criminal case due to his belief any grounds for appeal are frivolous when the court finds such grounds to, indeed, be frivolous.
According to reports from the Manning Police Department, Blackmon entered the Bank of Clarendon on North Brooks Street on Jan. 25, 2013, and presented a note demanding money to a teller. The note, according to reports, claimed he had a gun.
The teller, reportedly a cousin of Blackmon's, told police she didn't see any weapons but that Blackmon kept patting his leg like he had something in his pocket. After getting about $2,700, Blackmon and his wife, who waited behind the bank, left on foot. They were found about 12:30 p.m. at Manning Motel on U.S. 301 North.
