Keith v. State

999 So. 2d 383, 2008 WL 2097616
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedMay 20, 2008
Docket2006-CP-01070-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 999 So. 2d 383 (Keith 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
Keith v. State, 999 So. 2d 383, 2008 WL 2097616 (Mich. Ct. App. 2008).

Opinion

999 So.2d 383 (2008)

Clarence Mario KEITH, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Mississippi, Appellee.

No. 2006-CP-01070-COA.

Court of Appeals of Mississippi.

May 20, 2008.
Rehearing Denied October 21, 2008.
Certiorari Denied January 22, 2009.

*385 Clarence Mario Keith, pro se.

Office of the Attorney General by John R. Henry, attorney for appellee.

Before LEE, P.J., IRVING and ROBERTS, JJ.

ROBERTS, J., for the Court:

¶ 1. Clarence Mario Keith filed a motion for post-conviction relief in the Circuit Court of the First Judicial District of Hinds County following his guilty pleas for armed robbery and manslaughter. Finding that the record did not support Keith's claims of error, the trial court dismissed Keith's motion. Aggrieved by the trial court's holding, Keith now appeals and claims: (1) that the trial court erred in entertaining his motion and ultimately denying it; (2) that his pleas were not intelligently and voluntarily given; (3) that he received ineffective assistance of counsel; and (4) that the cumulative error necessitates reversal. Finding no error, we affirm the trial court's dismissal of Keith's motion.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

¶ 2. Keith was indicted on the charges of capital murder and armed robbery, Counts I and II, respectively, stemming from the shooting of Roger Jamison and the theft of Jamison's automobile on January 4, 1997. On March 19, 2002, Keith pled guilty to manslaughter and armed robbery in the *386 Circuit Court of the First Judicial District of Hinds County.[1] Keith was sentenced immediately after his pleas to twenty years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections for Count I and twenty-five years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections for Count II, with the sentence for Count II to run concurrently with the sentence for Count I.

¶ 3. On March 17, 2005, Keith filed a "Motion For Post[-]Conviction Relief to Vacate and Set Aside Conviction and Sentence" under the criminal cause numbers assigned to his original indictment and guilty pleas. In his motion, Keith claimed that there was not a factual basis for his guilty pleas, that he was coerced into pleading guilty, that he received ineffective assistance of counsel, and that the cumulative error necessitated reversal. The trial court treated Keith's motion as a motion for post-conviction relief filed pursuant to the Mississippi Uniform Post-Conviction Collateral Relief Act, Mississippi Code Annotated sections 99-39-1-29 (Rev.2007), and reviewed the merits of Keith's claims. The trial court noted that Keith failed to include any sworn affidavits, including his own, in support of his motion. Therefore, the trial court found that Keith had failed to properly substantiate his claims of error and dismissed Keith's motion with prejudice. Keith now appeals.

ANALYSIS

¶ 4. This Court's standard of review of a trial court's dismissal of a motion for post-conviction relief is such that the trial court's findings of fact will not be reversed unless they are clearly erroneous; however, questions of law will be reviewed de novo. Boddie v. State, 875 So.2d 180, 183(¶ 6) (Miss.2004).

I. WHETHER THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN FINDING THAT KEITH'S MOTION WAS FILED AS A CRIMINAL MATTER.

¶ 5. Keith argues that the:

trial court erroneously found that [Keith] filed [his] motion as a criminal matter where [the] motion clearly contained appropriate lines and notation to allow [the] clerk to apply [a] civil action number and where there was not [any] language to specifically state [that the] action was a criminal matter except the criminal cause number on the face of the motion for identification purposes.

The trial court did find that Keith erroneously filed his motion for post-conviction relief under the original criminal cause numbers to which he pled guilty; however, the trial court nonetheless examined Keith's petition. Therefore, this issue is moot.

II. WHETHER THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN CONSIDERING THE MERITS OF KEITH'S MOTION.

¶ 6. In its order denying Keith's petition, the trial court found that the only evidence offered by Keith in support of his claims of error were the factual assertions found in Keith's petition. Consequently, the trial court summarily dismissed Keith's petition, holding that Keith's factual assertions were contradicted by the record. While it is unclear from his brief, it appears that Keith argues that the trial court should not have reached the merits of his petition because he did not include supporting affidavits.

¶ 7. It is the duty of the petitioner to populate his motion for post-conviction relief with not only the sworn affidavits of those witnesses that presumably validate *387 his claims, but the petitioner's own sworn affidavit as well. Miss.Code Ann. §§ 99-39-9(1)(d) and (e) (Rev.2007). However, the fact that the requisite affidavits are missing does not preclude a trial court from examining a motion for post-conviction relief and ruling on its merits. To the contrary, the trial court is required to examine "[t]he original motion, together with all files, records, transcripts and correspondence relating to the judgment under attack...." Miss.Code Ann. § 99-39-11(1) (Rev.2007). If a petitioner does not include his own affidavit or, if necessary, affidavits of his witnesses, he does so at his own peril as "[i]f it plainly appears from the face of the motion, any annexed exhibits[,] and the prior proceedings in the case that the movant is not entitled to any relief, the judge may make an order for [the petition's] dismissal...." Miss.Code Ann. § 99-39-11(2) (Rev.2007). The trial court found that such was the case with Keith's petition. This issue is without merit.

III. WHETHER THERE WAS A FACTUAL BASIS FOR KEITH'S GUILTY PLEAS.

¶ 8. During Keith's plea hearing, the trial court inquired into the factual basis of Keith's pleas. In response, the prosecution stated:

Your Honor, the [State] would show that on January 4, 1997, [Keith], along with Edward DeLawrence McWilliams, was driving down Northside Drive. They came upon the Hurricane Bay Car Wash located at 1313 West Northside Drive within the City of Jackson and the First Judicial District of Hinds County, Mississippi. They saw [Jamison] with his car; that they pulled into the parking lot of the Hurricane Bay [Car Wash], both of them with the intent of robbing him and taking his car by exhibition of a deadly weapon. [Keith] got out of the car. There was a struggle with [Jamison] for his car. The gun discharged and [Jamison] was shot and died as a result of these injuries, and that [Keith] and [McWilliams] took his car to another location.

The trial court asked Keith if he had "any disagreement with [the State's] statement." Keith responded "no, sir." Keith now argues that the above set of facts was not sufficient to provide the requisite factual basis for his guilty pleas to manslaughter and armed robbery.

¶ 9. Uniform Rule of Circuit and County Court 8.04 requires a trial court to ensure that a defendant's guilty plea is not only voluntarily and intelligently made, but also that there exists a factual basis for such a plea. URCCC 8.04(A)(3); see also Bennett v. State,

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999 So. 2d 383, 2008 WL 2097616, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/keith-v-state-missctapp-2008.