Tiffany Michelle Taylor v. State Of Tennessee ( 2020 )


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  •                                                                                         12/21/2020
    IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OF TENNESSEE
    AT NASHVILLE
    July 15, 2020 Session
    TIFFANY MICHELLE TAYLOR v. STATE OF TENNESSEE
    Appeal from the Criminal Court for Putnam County
    No. 1997-CR-321 Gary McKenzie, Judge
    ___________________________________
    No. M2019-01312-CCA-R3-PC
    ___________________________________
    Petitioner, Tiffany Michelle Taylor, was convicted by a Putnam County jury of first
    degree premeditated murder and sentenced to life in the Tennessee Department of
    Correction. More than a year after this court affirmed her conviction, Petitioner filed a
    petition for post-conviction relief alleging that her juvenile life sentence violated the
    Eighth Amendment as interpreted in Miller v. Alabama, 
    567 U.S. 460
    (2012) and
    Montgomery v. Louisiana, 
    136 S. Ct. 718
    (2016). The post-conviction court subsequently
    denied the petition on its merits. Following our review of the record and relevant law, we
    conclude that the post-conviction court should have dismissed the petition because it was
    not timely filed. The judgment dismissing the petition is affirmed.
    Tenn. R. App. P. 3 Appeal as of Right; Judgment of the Criminal Court Affirmed
    THOMAS T. WOODALL, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which ROBERT L.
    HOLLOWAY, JR., and TIMOTHY L. EASTER, JJ., joined.
    Craig P. Fickling, District Public Defender; and Benjamin D. Marsee, Assistant Public
    Defender, Cookeville, Tennessee, for the appellant, Tiffany Michelle Taylor.
    Herbert H. Slatery III, Attorney General and Reporter; T. Austin Watkins, Assistant
    Attorney General; Bryant C. Dunaway, District Attorney General; and Beth Willis,
    Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.
    OPINION
    Background
    Petitioner was convicted by a Putnam County Criminal Court Jury of the first
    degree murder of her mother, Theresa Parramoure, and received a life sentence by
    operation of law because the State did not seek a sentence of life without the possibility
    of parole. Petitioner was sixteen years old at the time of the offense and was initially
    charged in juvenile court. The State petitioned the juvenile court to transfer Petitioner to
    criminal court in order for her to be tried as an adult. The juvenile court granted the
    State’s petition. A panel of this court affirmed the conviction. State v. Tiffany Michelle
    Taylor, No. M1999-02358-CCA-R3-CD, 
    2002 WL 799695
    (Tenn. Crim. App. Apr. 29,
    2002).
    In her direct appeal, Petitioner argued that the juvenile transfer statute, Tenn.Code
    Ann. § 37–1–134, was unconstitutional because it violated equal protection and the
    separation of powers doctrine; that her conviction violated the protection against double
    jeopardy; that the trial court erred by refusing to give a sleep defense instruction; and that
    the trial court improperly admitted inflammatory photographs into evidence. Tiffany
    Michelle Taylor, 
    2002 WL 799695
    , at *1. This court affirmed Petitioner’s conviction on
    April 29, 2002, and our supreme court denied Petitioner’s application for permission to
    appeal on November 4, 2002. More than thirteen years later, on May 5, 2016, Petitioner
    filed a petition for post-conviction relief arguing that her juvenile life sentence violated
    the Eighth Amendment as interpreted in Miller v. Alabama, 
    567 U.S. 460
    (2012) and
    Montgomery v. Louisiana, 
    136 S. Ct. 718
    (2016).
    Counsel was appointed, and an amended petition was filed. The trial court entered
    an “agreed order of stipulation” by the parties. Petitioner and the State had stipulated to
    the truth of the factual allegations made in Petitioner’s amended petition, including that
    Petitioner’s “original petition was timely filed, pursuant to Tenn. Code Ann. § 40-30-
    102(b)(1), in that it was filed within one year of Montgomery’s establishment of a new
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    constitutional right.” The State filed a response to Petitioner’s amended post-conviction
    petition asserting that Miller and Montgomery did not entitle Petitioner to relief because
    her sentence of life imprisonment was distinguishable from a sentence of life without the
    possibility of parole.
    An evidentiary hearing was held during which Petitioner offered no testimony but
    presented a mortality table and one scholarly article for the post-conviction court’s
    consideration. Thereafter, Petitioner late-filed the affidavit, report, and resume of Dr.
    Michael Freeman, an epidemiologist, as an exhibit. Petitioner also filed a post-hearing
    supporting memorandum. In an amended answer filed after the post-conviction hearing,
    the State argued that the post-conviction petition was not timely filed because it was not
    filed within one year of Miller, which created a new substantive rule of law. Rather, the
    petition was filed within one year of Montgomery whose limited holding stated that
    Miller was to be applied retroactively to juvenile offenders, and Montgomery did not
    create a new substantive rule of law. The post-conviction court did not address the
    timeliness of the post-conviction petition but denied the petition “as the narrow holding
    in Miller is applicable to life without parole sentences and not the life sentence that
    Petitioner is currently serving.”
    Analysis
    On appeal, Petitioner asserts that “Tennessee’s life sentencing scheme as applied
    to [Petitioner] is unconstitutional” in light of the United State’s Supreme Court’s holding
    in Miller.
    Initially, the State argues that Petitioner’s petition for post-conviction relief was
    not timely filed because it was not filed within one year of the Supreme Court’s holding
    in Miller. In her reply brief, Petitioner asserts that due process requires tolling of the
    statute of limitations in this case. “Relief under [the Post-Conviction Procedure Act] shall
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    be granted when the conviction or sentence is void or voidable because of the abridgment
    of any right guaranteed by the Constitution of Tennessee or the Constitution of the United
    States.” Tenn. Code Ann. § 40-30-103. Tennessee Code Annotated section 40-30-102(a)
    provides in pertinent part that a person in custody under a sentence of a court of this state
    must petition for post-conviction relief under this part within one (1) year of the date of
    the final action of the highest state appellate court to which an appeal is taken or, if no
    appeal is taken, within one (1) year of the date on which the judgment became final, or
    consideration of the petition shall be barred.
    Tennessee Code Annotated section 40-30-102(b) (2019) provides that
    [n]o court shall have jurisdiction to consider a petition filed after the
    expiration of the limitations period unless:
    (1) [t]he claim in the petition is based upon a final ruling of an
    appellate court establishing a constitutional right that was not
    recognized as existing at the time of trial, if retrospective
    application of that right is required. The petition must be filed
    within one (1) year of the ruling of the highest state appellate
    court or the United States supreme court establishing a
    constitutional right that was not recognized as existing at the
    time of trial;
    (2) [t]he claim in the petition is based upon new scientific evidence
    establishing that the petitioner is actually innocent of the
    offense or offenses for which the petitioner was convicted; or
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    (3) [t]he claim asserted in the petition seeks relief from a sentence
    that was enhanced because of a previous conviction and the
    conviction in the case in which the claim is asserted was not a
    guilty plea with an agreed sentence, and the previous
    conviction has subsequently been held to be invalid, in which
    case the petition must be filed within one (1) year of the
    finality of the ruling holding the previous conviction to be
    invalid.
    Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 40-30-102(b)(1)-(3) (2019). This court has previously concluded
    that “[g]iven the post-conviction statute’s language conferring jurisdictional import to the
    timely filing of a petition, it is essential that the question of timeliness can be resolved
    before any adjudication on the merits of the petitioner’s claims may properly occur.”
    Antonio L. Saulsberry v. State, No. W2002-02538-CCA-R3-PC, 
    2004 WL 239767
    , at *1
    (Tenn. Crim. App. Feb. 9, 2004).
    If a petitioner fails to file a timely petition, the post-conviction court does not have
    jurisdiction, unless due process requires tolling of the statute of limitations. See Tenn.
    Code Ann. § 40-30-102(a) (2019); Whitehead v. State, 
    402 S.W.3d 615
    , 622-31 (Tenn.
    2013). “Issues regarding whether due process requires tolling of the post-conviction
    statute of limitations are mixed questions of law and fact and are, therefore, subject to de
    novo review.” Id at 621. In Tennessee, courts “have previously recognized that in certain
    circumstances, strict application of the statute of limitations would deny a defendant a
    reasonable opportunity to bring a post-conviction claim and thus, would violate due
    process.” Williams v. State, 
    44 S.W.3d 464
    , 468 (Tenn. 2001). “A petitioner is entitled to
    due process tolling upon a showing (1) that he or she has been pursuing his or her rights
    diligently, and (2) that some extraordinary circumstance stood in his or her way and
    prevented timely filing.” 
    Whitehead, 402 S.W.3d at 631
    (citing Holland v. Florida, 
    560 U.S. 631
    , 648 (2012)). Our supreme court emphasized that due process tolling “must be
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    reserved for those rare instances where—due to circumstances external to the party's own
    conduct - it would be unconscionable to enforce the limitation period against the party
    and gross injustice would result.”
    Id. at 631–32
    (quoting Harris v. Hutchinson, 
    209 F.3d 325
    , 330 (4th Cir.2000)); Bush v. State, 
    428 S.W.3d 1
    , 22 (Tenn. 2014).
    Our supreme court has said that the “due diligence” requirement of the analysis
    adopted in Whitehead
    does not require a prisoner to undertake repeated exercises in futility or
    to exhaust every imaginable option, but rather to make reasonable efforts
    ….Moreover, the due diligence inquiry is an individualized one that
    must take into account the conditions of confinement and the reality of
    the prison system.
    Whitehead, 402, S.W.3d at 631. (quoting Downs v. McNeil, 
    520 F.3d 1311
    , 1323 (11th
    Cir. 2008)(internal quotation marks omitted); 
    Bush, 428 S.W.3d at 23
    . On appeal,
    Petitioner claims that she is entitled to due process tolling because prior to the filing of
    her post-conviction petition, the question of whether Miller should be applied
    retrospectively was unsettled until after the Supreme Court’s decision in Montgomery.
    In Miller, the Supreme Court held in June 2012 that a mandatory sentence of life
    without the possibility of parole for a juvenile offender violates the Eighth Amendment
    of the United States 
    Constitution. 567 U.S. at 479
    . The Court in Miller did not hold that a
    juvenile could never be sentenced to life without the possibility a parole. See Charles
    Everett Lowe-Kelley v. State, No. M2015-00138-CCA-R3-PC, 
    2016 WL 742180
    , at *8
    (Tenn. Crim. App., Feb. 24, 2016). The Court required “a certain process – considering
    an offender’s youth and attendant characteristics – before imposing a particular penalty.”
    
    Miller, 567 U.S. at 483
    ; Cedrick Dickerson v. State, No. W2013-01766-CCA-R3-PC,
    
    2014 WL 3744454
    , at *5 (Tenn. Crim. App., July 28, 2014)(the defendant’s sentence of
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    life without parole did not run afoul of Miller when the record demonstrated that the trial
    court “provided the exact consideration that the Supreme Court called for in Miller”).
    Later in January 2016, the Supreme Court in Montgomery considered “whether
    Miller’s prohibition on mandatory life without parole for juvenile offenders did announce
    a new substantive rule that, under the Constitution, must be 
    retroactive.” 136 S. Ct. at 732
    . In concluding that Miller announced a new substantive rule of law that must be
    applied retroactively, the Court discussed its holding in Miller:
    Miller, it is true, did not bar a punishment for all juvenile offenders ....
    Miller did bar life without parole, however, for all but the rarest of
    juvenile offenders, those whose crimes reflect permanent incorrigibility
    .... Before Miller, every juvenile convicted of a homicide offense could
    be sentenced to life without parole. After Miller, it will be the rare
    juvenile offender who can receive that same sentence .... Miller drew a
    line between children whose crimes reflect transient immaturity and
    those rare children whose crimes reflect irreparable corruption. The fact
    that life without parole could be a proportionate sentence for the latter
    kind of juvenile offender does not mean that all other children
    imprisoned under a disproportionate sentence have not suffered the
    deprivation of a substantive right.
    Id. at 734.
    “The statute of limitations begins to run when the new substantive rule is
    announced, not when a subsequent decision makes that decision retroactive.” James
    Ellison Rouse v. State, No. M2018-00926-CCA-R3-PC, 
    2019 WL 3814624
    , at *5 (Tenn.
    Crim. App. August 14, 2019)(citing Dodd v. United States, 
    545 U.S. 353
    , 356-60 (2005)).
    In this case, the statute of limitations began to run on June 25, 2012, when the United
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    States Supreme Court decided Miller, and expired one year later on June 25, 2013.
    Petitioner did not file her petition for post-conviction relief until nearly four years later on
    May 5, 2016. Therefore, it was untimely. See Ellison Rouse v. 
    State, 2019 WL at *5
    .
    Petitioner’s case does not fall within the three exceptions set forth in Tenn. Code
    Ann. § 40-30-102(b) allowing for the filing of a petition for post-conviction relief outside
    the one-year statute of limitations. Therefore, the post-conviction court did not have
    jurisdiction to consider the petition unless Petitioner could establish that she was entitled
    to due process tolling of the statute of limitations. Seals v. State, 
    23 S.W.3d 272
    , 279
    (Tenn. 2000). We find that Petitioner’s assertion is not an instance where due process
    could toll the statute of limitations. Although Petitioner alleges that she has been pursuing
    her rights diligently, she has not shown that she pursued those rights after the Supreme
    Court’s holding in Miller and prior to the holding on Montgomery. She also has not
    shown that some extraordinary circumstance stood in her way and prevented timely
    filing. 
    Whitehead, 402 S.W.3d at 631
    ; 
    Bush, 428 S.W.3d at 23
    .
    In any event, Petitioner’s sentence in this case does not contravene Miller because
    she did not receive a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of
    parole. She received a life sentence. As pointed out by the State, this court has repeatedly
    rejected the claim that a juvenile’s mandatory life sentence, which requires service of at
    least fifty-one years before release, constitutes an effective mandatory sentence of life
    without parole in violation of Miller. See State v. Antonious Johnson and Rodney
    Williams, No. W2018-01125-CCA-R3-CD, 
    2019 WL 4008113
    , at *15 (Tenn. Crim. App.
    Aug. 23, 2019); State v. Walter Collins, No. W2016-01819-CCA-R3-CD, 
    2018 WL 1876333
    , at *19-21 (Tenn. Crim. App. Apr. 18, 2018); Martez D. Matthews v. State, No.
    M2015-02422-CCA-R3-PC, 
    2016 WL 7395674
    , at *4 (Tenn. Crim. App. Dec. 21,
    2016)(Tenn. Apr. 13, 2017); Charles Everett Lowe-Kelley, 
    2016 WL 742180
    , at *8; Billy
    L. Grooms v. State, No. E2014-01228-CCA-R3-HC, 
    2015 WL 1396474
    , at *4 (Tenn.
    Crim. App. Mar. 25, 2015); State v. Kayln Marie Polochak, No. M2013-02712-CCA-R3-
    -8-
    CD, 
    2015 WL 226566
    , at *34 (Tenn. Crim. App. Jan. 16, 2015); Cyntoia Denise Brown
    v. State, No. M2013-00825-CCA-R3-PC, 
    2014 WL 5780718
    , at *21 (Tenn. Crim. App.
    Nov. 6, 2014); Floyd Lee Perry, Jr. v. State, No. W2013-00901-CCA-R3-PC, 
    2014 WL 1377579
    , at *5 (Tenn. Crim. App. Apr. 7, 2014); Jeffrey T. Siler, Jr. v. State, No. E2019-
    00018-CCA-R3-PC, 
    2020 WL 1466308
    , at *6 (Tenn. Crim. App. Mar. 24, 2020). Thus,
    when it is clear that a petitioner’s substantive claim has no merit, there cannot be a due
    process violation that would toll the running of the statute of limitations.
    We conclude that Petitioner’s petition for post-conviction relief should have been
    dismissed because it was filed after the statute of limitations had expired. The post-
    conviction court erred by allowing an evidentiary hearing. However, the post-conviction
    court’s dismissal of the post-conviction petition was not error.
    CONCLUSION
    Based on the foregoing authorities and reasoning, we conclude that the petition
    was barred by the one-year statute of limitations for filing a petition for post-conviction
    relief. Accordingly, the post-conviction court’s dismissal of the petition is affirmed.
    ____________________________________________
    THOMAS T. WOODALL, JUDGE
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Document Info

Docket Number: M2019-01312-CCA-R3-PC

Judges: Judge Thomas T. Woodall

Filed Date: 12/21/2020

Precedential Status: Precedential

Modified Date: 12/21/2020