State v. Wright

Lewis, Chief Justice:

Appellant has appealed, through appointed counsel, from his conviction and sentence of eighteen months for malicious damage to personal property in violation of Section 16-381 of the 1962 Code of Laws, as amended. The charges arose out of the infliction of damage to an automobile of an agent of the South Carolina Tax Commission.

Section 16-381 provides that the punishment for malicious injury to personal property shall be at the discretion of the court unless the injury or loss to the property is less than $50.00, in which latter event the offense is triable in…