McClurg v. State

758 So. 2d 473, 2000 WL 366460
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedApril 11, 2000
Docket98-CP-00298-COA, 98-CA-00398-COA, 98-CP-00488-COA and 98-CP-00580-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 758 So. 2d 473 (McClurg 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
McClurg v. State, 758 So. 2d 473, 2000 WL 366460 (Mich. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinion

758 So.2d 473 (2000)

Morgan V. McCLURG, Jr., a/k/a Morgan V. McClurg, a/k/a Morgan Vance McClurg, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Mississippi, Appellee.

Nos. 98-CP-00298-COA, 98-CA-00398-COA, 98-CP-00488-COA and 98-CP-00580-COA.

Court of Appeals of Mississippi.

April 11, 2000.

*475 Morgan McClurg, Appellant, pro se.

Office of the Attorney General by Deirdre McCrory; Scott Stuart; W. Glenn Watts, Attorneys for Appellee.

BEFORE McMILLIN, C.J., IRVING, AND THOMAS, JJ.

IRVING, J., for the Court:

¶ 1. This appeal involves four consolidated cases for post conviction relief. In each of the causes McClurg pled guilty and now challenges the voluntariness of the pleas, alleging ineffective assistance of counsel. He also alleges that the indictments were defective, the arrests were without probable cause, and denial of an initial appearance. Finding no merit to any of his claims, we affirm.

Facts

¶ 2. In cause 98-CP-00298-COA (case 1), the grand jury of Leflore County indicted McClurg for burglary, and on April 15, 1997, he pled guilty to the charge and was sentenced to a term of seven years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections. The following January, McClurg filed a motion to vacate the judgment, which was denied on February 4, 1998. This appeal is from the denial of that motion.

¶ 3. In cause 98-CA-00398-COA (case 2), the grand jury of Grenada County indicted McClurg on two counts of grand larceny, and on August 6, 1997, he pled *476 guilty to both of these charges and was sentenced to serve a five-year term, with four years suspended for each count of grand larceny, sentences to run concurrently. On February 13, 1998, McClurg filed a motion to vacate the judgment of conviction and sentence, and this motion was denied on February 27, 1998. This appeal is from the denial of that motion.

¶ 4. In cause 90-CP-00488-COA (case 3), McClurg, on November 12, 1996, entered a plea of guilty in the Circuit Court of the Second Judicial District of Carroll County to an indictment charging him with four counts of commercial burglary and one count of grand larceny, as an habitual offender. He was sentenced as follows on the commercial burglary counts: seven years on count one, seven years on count two with two years suspended and the five years to serve to run consecutively with count one, six years on count three with all time suspended, and seven years on count four to run concurrent with the sentences in counts one and two. He was sentenced on the grand larceny count to serve five years, concurrent with the sentences of counts one and two of the commercial burglary counts. On February 3, 1998, McClurg filed a motion to vacate the judgment of conviction and sentence, and this motion was denied on March 5, 1998. This appeal is from the denial of that motion.

¶ 5. In cause 98-CP-00580-COA (case 4), McClurg was indicted by the grand jury of the First Judicial District of Carroll County for one count of grand larceny and three counts of building burglary. He entered a plea of guilty to all counts and was sentenced to serve five years on the grand larceny and seven years on each of the three burglary counts. The three burglary counts were to run concurrently with each other and consecutively with the grand larceny sentence. The entire sentence was to run concurrently with the twelve-year sentence which had been imposed in cause 98-CP-00488. On January 21, 1998, McClurg filed a motion to vacate the judgment of conviction and sentence, and this motion was denied on March 9, 1998. This appeal is from the denial of that motion.

Analysis of Issues Presented

1. Ineffective assistance of counsel.

¶ 6. The standard of review for ineffective assistance of counsel is set out in Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984), which was adopted by the Mississippi Supreme Court in Gilliard v. State, 462 So.2d 710, 714 (Miss.1985). The test to be applied is (1) whether counsel's overall performance was deficient and (2) whether or not the deficient performance, if any, prejudiced the defense. Taylor v. State, 682 So.2d 359, 363 (Miss.1996); Cole v. State, 666 So.2d 767, 775 (Miss.1995).

¶ 7. The defendant has the burden of proving both prongs. Id. The adequacy of counsel's performance, as to its deficiency and prejudicial effect, should be measured by a "totality of the circumstances." Id. The level of scrutiny to be applied when measuring the performance of counsel against the deficiency and prejudicial prongs of Strickland is to look at the overall performance. Taylor, 682 So.2d at 363. There is a strong, yet rebuttable, presumption that the actions by the defense counsel are reasonable and strategic. Id. Under the second prong of Strickland, the prejudicial prong, the defendant must show that there was a reasonable probability that, but for counsel's unprofessional errors, the result would have been different. A reasonable probability is a probability sufficient to undermine confidence in the outcome. Strickland, 466 U.S. at 694, 104 S.Ct. 2052.

¶ 8. In case 1, McClurg alleges that if his counsel had been competent within the holding of Alexander v. State, 605 So.2d 1170 (Miss.1992) and Rule 1.1 of the Mississippi Rules of Professional Conduct, then McClurg would have been informed of his right to a hearing on the voluntariness of his confession and his right to a defect free indictment. Additionally, counsel *477 would have noticed that McClurg was arrested without a warrant and was entitled to an initial appearance to determine if there was probable cause for his arrest. The lower court found that McClurg failed to meet the standard set forth in Strickland and Gilliard. This Court agrees.

¶ 9. McClurg has not shown that the overall performance of his counsel was deficient nor that the deficiency, if any, prejudiced his defense. McClurg merely makes blanket allegations about things that he says his counsel should have informed him of and then charges counsel with being incompetent. He did not allege in his post conviction relief petition that he pled guilty because of his counsel's incompetence, or stated another way, that he would not have pled guilty but for counsel's omissions which he alleges constitute incompetence. In his brief before this Court, he argues for the first time that but for counsel's lapses he would not have pled guilty. Since that allegation was not raised in his post-conviction relief petition, McClurg is barred from presenting it at the appellate level. Chassaniol v. Bank of Kilmichael, 626 So.2d 127, 133-34 (Miss. 1993). However, even if McClurg had made the allegation in his post-conviction relief petition, his allegation alone, without more, would have been insufficient to carry his burden under Strickland. See Brooks v. State, 573 So.2d 1350, 1354 (Miss.1990).

¶ 10. In case 2, McClurg alleges three grounds on which his counsel was ineffective: 1) his counsel did not question McClurg's illegal arrest; 2) his counsel did not object to the inculpatory statement made by McClurg; 3) his counsel did not demur to the defective indictment. Once again McClurg presents only blanket allegations of things that he says his counsel should have done. These mere allegations fall short of the requirements of Strickland and Gilliard.

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Bluebook (online)
758 So. 2d 473, 2000 WL 366460, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcclurg-v-state-missctapp-2000.