Jeff King v. State ( 2010 )

IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OF TENNESSEE
FILED
AT KNOXVILLE
January 5, 2000
NOVEMBER 1999 SESSION Cecil Crowson, Jr.
Appellate Court Clerk
JEFF H. KING, SR., )
) C.C.A. No. 03C01-9907-CC-00278
Appellant, )
) Sevier County
vs. )
) Honorable Rex Henry Ogle, Judge
STATE OF TENNESSEE, )
) (Habeas Corpus)
Appellee. )
For Appellant: For Appellee:
Edward C. Miller Paul G. Summers
Public Defender Attorney General & Reporter
P. O. Box 416
Dandridge, TN 37725 Elizabeth B. Marney
Assistant Attorney General
425 Fifth Avenue North
Nashville, TN 37243-0493
Al Schmutzer, Jr.
District Attorney General
125 Court Avenue
Sevierville, TN 37862
OPINION FILED: _____________________________________
AFFIRMED
ALAN E. GLENN, JUDGE
OPINION
Petitioner, Jeff H. King, Sr., filed a “Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus” on April 7,
1997, alleging his eight unspecified convictions in the Sevier County Circuit Court should
be set aside because his guilty pleas were invalid. The trial court held that the pleading
should be treated as a petition for post-conviction relief because it did not allege that the
convictions were void or the sentences had expired. Because the petitioner’s last
conviction was entered on August 2, 1993, the trial court dismissed the petition as time
barred by the one-year statute of limitations. The petitioner appealed, arguing this court’s
decision in Arnold Carter v. State, No. 03C01-9509-CC-00270, 1996 WL 389243 (Tenn.
Crim. App., Knoxville, July 11, 1996), rev’d, 952 S.W.2d 417 (Tenn. 1997), provides an
additional one-year window for the filing of a petition for post-conviction relief. Based on
our review of this matter, we affirm the decision of the trial court.
In Carter v. State, 952 S.W.2d 417 (Tenn. 1997), the defendant challenged his 1972
murder conviction with a petition for post-conviction relief filed on July 24, 1995. The trial
court dismissed the defendant’s petition because it was well outside the statute of
limitations. This court reversed the decision of the trial court in Arnold Carter v. State, No.
03C01-9509-CC-00270, 1996 WL 389243 (Tenn. Crim. App., Knoxville, July 11, 1996),
where we held the Post-Conviction Procedure Act of 1995 provided additional time to file
for those petitioners for whom the statue of limitations had expired under the old act. On
the State’s appeal, the Tennessee Supreme Court reversed this court’s decision and held
the Post-Conviction Procedure Act of 1995 does not provide petitioners for whom the
statute of limitations had expired under the old Post-Conviction Procedure Act of 1967
additional time in which to file petitions for post-conviction relief. Carter, 952 S.W.2d at
418.
In the case sub judice, the petitioner cites only this court’s original decision in Carter
v. State in support of his argument that his petition is not time barred. As the State
correctly points out, this decision was reversed by the Tennessee Supreme Court and has
no value as supporting authority for the petitioner’s position.
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The petitioner pleaded guilty to eight unspecified offenses in the Sevier County
Circuit Court in December 1985, April 1988, January 1993, and August 1993. The present
petition was not filed until April 1997, well beyond the applicable statue of limitation for all
eight convictions. Accordingly, the trial court properly dismissed the petition. Further, the
trial court correctly concluded that the matter could not be considered as a petition for writ
of habeas corpus because it did not allege that the petitioner's sentences had expired or
that the convictions were void.
Based upon our review of this matter, we affirm the decision of the trial court.
_____________________________________
ALAN E. GLENN, JUDGE
CONCUR:
__________________________________
DAVID G. HAYES, JUDGE
___________________________________
JOE H. WALKER, III, SPECIAL JUDGE
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