Patrick Rico Edwards v. State of Tennessee

CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedMarch 23, 2016
DocketM2014-01839-CCA-R3-PC
StatusPublished

This text of Patrick Rico Edwards v. State of Tennessee (Patrick Rico Edwards v. State of Tennessee) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Patrick Rico Edwards v. State of Tennessee, (Tenn. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OF TENNESSEE AT NASHVILLE Assigned on Briefs November 12, 2015

PATRICK RICO EDWARDS v. STATE OF TENNESSEE

Appeal from the Criminal Court for Davidson County No. 2007-A-176 Monte Watkins, Judge

No. M2014-01839-CCA-R3-PC – March 23, 2016 _____________________________

Patrick Rico Edwards (“the Petitioner”) appeals from the denial of his petition for post- conviction relief. On appeal, the Petitioner argues (1) that his trial counsel was ineffective for failing to present at the sentencing hearing expert testimony about the Petitioner‟s mental health; and (2) that his plea was unknowing and involuntary. Additionally, the Petitioner contends that the post-conviction court‟s failure to make findings of fact and conclusions of law about the voluntariness of his plea constitutes reversible error. We conclude that the post-conviction court erred when it failed to make findings of fact and conclusions of law regarding the voluntary and intelligent nature of the Petitioner‟s plea but such error was harmless in this case. Further, we conclude that the Petitioner has failed to prove that he is entitled to post-conviction relief for either of his claims. The judgment of the post-conviction court is affirmed.

Tenn. R. App. P. 3 Appeal as of Right; Judgment of the Circuit Court Affirmed

ROBERT L. HOLLOWAY, JR., J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which NORMA MCGEE OGLE and CAMILLE R. MCMULLEN, JJ., joined.

Richard Strong (on appeal) and Isaac Conner (at hearing), Nashville, Tennessee, for the appellant, Patrick Rico Edwards.

Herbert H. Slatery III, Attorney General and Reporter; Clarence E. Lutz, Senior Counsel; Victor S. Johnson, III, District Attorney General; and Deborah Housel, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee. OPINION

I. Factual and Procedural Background

Guilty Plea and Sentencing

The Petitioner was indicted with first degree premeditated murder and first degree felony murder.1 The Petitioner‟s August 2008 trial ended in a mistrial. The Petitioner ultimately pleaded guilty to the lesser-included offense of second degree murder. The plea agreement, included in the record on this appeal, shows that the Petitioner entered an open guilty plea to second degree murder, with the range of punishment being between fifteen and twenty-five years.

At the plea hearing, the trial court conducted a plea colloquy with the Petitioner, and the Petitioner confirmed that he understood that, by pleading guilty, he was giving up his right to a jury trial. The Petitioner also denied being forced or threatened into pleading guilty. The Petitioner confirmed that he reviewed the plea agreement with trial counsel and that he did not have any questions about the plea agreement. He also stated that he freely and voluntarily signed the plea agreement.

The State offered the following factual basis for the plea:

As Your Honor recalls from the case that was tried in August, on October 6th, 2006, Jessica Toombs, Joey York, Brandon Morrison, and Keith Casselberry, and Christopher Hudson went to Nashboro Village to buy ecstasy from [the Petitioner] and Ryan Scott Lewis. When they arrived at the scene Christopher Hudson went over to the car that was driven by the [defendant]. As you heard from witnesses that were on the scene, Judge— like Ms. Laquita Weaver and, also, Eric Richey—Mr. Hudson leaned into the car and saw [Petitioner‟s] gun, became frightened and started running back behind the car. [Petitioner] got the gun and shot Christopher Hudson in the back as he was running. Mr. Hudson tried to crawl to the sidewalk, and as Your Honor remembers, if you‟ll recall the testimony, [Petitioner] got out of the car and went over to where Mr. Hudson was lying. Had this case proceeded to trial the State would have called [Petitioner‟s] co- defendant, Ryan Scott Lewis, who would have testified that they intended to rob Christopher Hudson, that [Petitioner] did take over a hundred dollars from the body of Christopher Hudson, that they then went back to the

1 To assist in the resolution of this proceeding, we take judicial notice of the record from the Petitioner‟s direct appeal. See Tenn. R. App. P. 13(c); State v. Lawson, 291 S.W.3d 864, 869 (Tenn. 2009); State ex rel Wilkerson v. Bomar, 376 S.W.2d 451, 453 (Tenn. 1964). -2- apartment and when they got back to the apartment they divided the proceedings [sic]. Your Honor, also, recalls that the police were taken to the apartment where Ryan Scott Lewis and [Petitioner] were, and that, then, they were taken by a man by the name of Corey Ashley to David Barnett‟s home where they retrieved the murder weapon. And as you, also, will recall, Judge, TBI Agent Don Carman testified in August that there was a match between the murder weapon and the bullet and casing that were found at the scene.

At a subsequent sentencing hearing, the Petitioner‟s mother, Pamela Rooks, testified that the Petitioner attempted to commit suicide by overdosing on pills about a year before he was arrested in the instant case. Ms. Rooks reported that the Petitioner spent “[a]bout a week” in the hospital. Trial counsel also introduced the medical records from the time the Petitioner spent in the hospital after his attempted suicide. Following his discharge from the hospital, the Petitioner did not receive any mental health treatment. The trial court sentenced the Petitioner to twenty-one years‟ incarceration.

On direct appeal, this court affirmed the Petitioner‟s conviction and sentence. State v. Patrick Rico Edwards, No. M2009-01277-CCA-R3-CD, 2011 WL 497444, at *4 (Tenn. Crim. App. Feb. 11, 2011), perm. app. denied (Tenn. May 26, 2011).

Post-Conviction Proceedings

The Petitioner filed a pro se “Petition for Relief from Conviction or Sentence” alleging, among other things, that he entered an involuntary and unknowing guilty plea and that he received ineffective assistance of counsel. Post-conviction counsel was appointed and filed another “Petition for Post-Conviction Relief” (collectively, “the Petition”), alleging ineffective assistance of counsel and that the trial court improperly weighed a mitigating factor at the sentencing hearing.

At the post-conviction hearing, the Petitioner testified that he was twenty-seven years old at the time of the hearing and that “the last grade [he] made it to” was the ninth grade. He said he did not take a plea agreement before his first trial because he felt that he had a better chance at trial than the plea he was offered. The first trial ended in a mistrial. The Petitioner stated that, prior to the second trial, he was offered another plea agreement. The Petitioner said trial counsel advised him to take the plea because his co- defendant was “going to give a statement.” The Petitioner stated that he wanted to go to trial the second time, but he decided not to after talking to his mother and trial counsel. The Petitioner noted that his mother was “the dominant factor” in his decision to plead guilty. The Petitioner recalled that his second plea offer involved a sentence of approximately “fifteen years.” He ultimately received a twenty-one year sentence.

-3- The Petitioner recalled that he discussed with trial counsel the mitigating factors that trial counsel intended to present at the sentencing hearing, but he did not understand what mitigating and enhancement factors were. The Petitioner said he told trial counsel that he did not understand, but that trial counsel was still not able to explain it in a way that he could comprehend.

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Patrick Rico Edwards v. State of Tennessee, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/patrick-rico-edwards-v-state-of-tennessee-tenncrimapp-2016.