Brooks v. State

72 So. 3d 552, 2011 Miss. App. LEXIS 643, 2011 WL 5027199
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedOctober 18, 2011
DocketNo. 2010-CP-01781-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 72 So. 3d 552 (Brooks v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Mississippi primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Brooks v. State, 72 So. 3d 552, 2011 Miss. App. LEXIS 643, 2011 WL 5027199 (Mich. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinion

ROBERTS, J.,

for the Court:

¶ 1. This appeal stems from an incident that occurred on May 12, 2008, when Cedric Brooks was found in possession of marijuana while incarcerated at the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC) facility in Parchman, Mississippi. Brooks was indicted for “unlawfully, willfully and feloniously” possessing 6.4 grams of marijuana in a correctional facility. On June 8, 2009, Brooks, with counsel present, entered his guilty plea to the charge at a hearing before the Sunflower County Circuit Court. He was ordered to serve three years in the custody of the MDOC to run consecutively to the sentence he was serving at the time. He was also ordered to pay all courts costs, a $300 lab fee, and $300 to Sunflower County in lieu of attorney’s fees. Brooks subsequently filed his motion for post-conviction relief (PCR) on August 16, 2010. In an order entered by the circuit judge on October 15, 2010, Brooks’s PCR motion was summarily dis[554]*554missed. Feeling aggrieved, Brooks now appeals.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

¶ 2. Brooks began his initial term of incarceration on February 13, 1996, on drug charges. On May 12, 2008, Brooks was still incarcerated on those charges. It was also on this day that two officers at the MDOC correctional facility in Parch-man, Mississippi, entered the area housing several inmates, including Brooks, to perform a check for contraband. One officer approached Brooks, escorted him to a corner, and requested that he remove his pants to check for contraband. When Brooks removed his pants, the officer noticed something fall from the zipper or waist area of Brooks’s pants. This item was later determined to be approximately 6.4 grams of marijuana.

¶ 3. Then, on December 22, 2008, a Sunflower County grand jury indicted Brooks on one count of “unlawfully, willfully, and feloniously” possessing 6.4 grams of “marihuana, a Schedule I controlled substance, within the Mississippi Department of Corrections at Parchman, Mississippi, a correctional facility!!]” Brooks, appearing before the circuit court on June 8, 2009, with counsel present, entered a guilty plea to the charge in the indictment. The circuit judge accepted Brooks’s guilty plea and sentenced him to three years in the custody of the MDOC to run consecutively to the sentence Brooks is currently serving. The circuit judge also assessed court costs, state assessments, a $300 lab fee, and $300 to be paid to Sunflower County in lieu of attorney’s fees.

¶ 4. Over a year later, on August 9, 2010, Brooks filed a PCR motion in the circuit court. The circuit judge summarily dismissed Brooks’s PCR motion in an order entered on October 15, 2010. Feeling aggrieved by the summary dismissal of his PCR motion, Brooks now appeals and raises three issues. The first issue is an ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claim. His second issue is that he claims his guilty plea was not supported by a factual basis when it was accepted. His final issue alleges a double-jeopardy violation.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

¶ 5. The standard of review that this Court applies when reviewing the circuit court’s summary dismissal of a PCR motion is found in the Mississippi Supreme Court’s decision State v. Santiago, 773 So.2d 921, 923-24 (¶ 11) (Miss.2000) and provides: “a trial court may summarily dismiss a petition for PCR, without having held an evidentiary hearing, when it is clear that the petitioner is not entitled to relief under the [Uniform Post-Conviction Collateral Relief Act].” The supreme court further elaborated by stating that “dismissal of a PCR motion is proper where ‘it appears beyond a doubt that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts in support of his claim which would entitle him to relief.’ ” Id. (quoting Turner v. State, 590 So.2d 871, 874 (Miss.1991)).

ANALYSIS

I. Ineffective Assistance of Counsel

¶ 6. Brooks’s first issue is that he received ineffective assistance of counsel at his plea hearing; however, that statement is the extent of his argument on the issue. Although in his brief, Brooks provides us with an extremely thorough analysis of the Sixth Amendment right to effective assistance of counsel, he fails to provide specific examples of how his attorney’s performance was ineffective. The lone statement that provides some insight into this issue is found in Brooks’s reply brief in which he states that his attorney did nothing but [555]*555coerce him into accepting a guilty plea that was not supported by a factual basis. Pursuant to Mississippi Rule of Appellate Procedure Rule 28(a)(6) which requires the appellant to state his contentions “with respect to the issues presented, and the reasons for those contentions, with citations to the authorities, statutes, and parts of the record relied on[,]” we find that Brooks failed to demonstrate any reasons for his contention that his attorney was ineffective and failed to cite any part of the record to support that contention. Claims of ineffective assistance of counsel must be pled with specificity, and affidavits to support the claim must also be attached and part of the record. Fairley v. State, 812 So.2d 259, 268-64 (¶¶ 13-14) (Miss.Ct.App.2002). In this case, the record and Brooks’s briefs are void of either. As such, we find no merit to Brooks’s ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claim.

II. Factual Basis to Accept a Guilty Plea

¶ 7. Brooks next asserts that there was not a factual basis for the circuit judge to accept his guilty plea. Pursuant to the Uniform Rule of Circuit and County Court 8.04(A)(3):

Before the trial court may accept a plea of guilty, the court must determine that the plea is voluntarily and intelligently made and that there is a factual basis for the plea. A plea of guilty is not voluntary if induced by fear, violence, deception, or improper inducements. A showing that the plea of guilty was voluntarily and intelligently made must appear in the record.

(Emphasis added). This Court stated: “The purpose of the factual-basis rule is to make the court ‘delve beyond the admission of guilt lying on the surface and determine for itself whether there is substantial evidence that the petitioner did in fact commit those crimes he is charged with and is not entering the plea for some other reason that the law finds objectionable.’ ” Avant v. State, 55 So.3d 1115, 1119-20 (¶ 10) (Miss.Ct.App.2010) (quoting Gaskin v. State, 618 So.2d 103, 106 (Miss.1993)). In his brief, Brooks argues he never actually admitted that he committed any elements of the crime. He further argues that there was not enough evidence that the circuit court could say with confidence that he committed the crime.

¶ 8. When determining if there has been a sufficient factual basis to accept a guilty plea, “[w]e are not limited to the guilty plea transcript[;] however[,][t]he record as a whole must be viewed.” Gaskin, 618 So.2d at 106. In Drake v. State, 823 So.2d 593, 594 (¶7) (Miss.Ct.App.2002), this Court found that there was sufficient factual basis to accept Julius Drake’s guilty plea since at his plea hearing:

Drake was aware of the charges against him and the consequences that would result upon entering a guilty plea. He still chose to enter such a plea. Drake swore to the trial court that he had competent representation and that the elements of the crime were explained to him.

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Bluebook (online)
72 So. 3d 552, 2011 Miss. App. LEXIS 643, 2011 WL 5027199, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brooks-v-state-missctapp-2011.