Readus v. State

837 So. 2d 209, 2003 WL 245350
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedFebruary 4, 2003
Docket2001-CA-01182-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by22 cases

This text of 837 So. 2d 209 (Readus 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
Readus v. State, 837 So. 2d 209, 2003 WL 245350 (Mich. Ct. App. 2003).

Opinion

837 So.2d 209 (2003)

Antonio READUS, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Mississippi, Appellee.

No. 2001-CA-01182-COA.

Court of Appeals of Mississippi.

February 4, 2003.

*210 James D. Minor, Oxford, attorney for appellant.

Office of the Attorney General by: Scott Stuart, attorney for appellee.

Before SOUTHWICK, P.J., THOMAS and CHANDLER, JJ.

CHANDLER, J., for the court.

¶ 1. Antonio Readus pled guilty to fourteen charges of burglary and attempted burglary contained in twelve indictments. Readus filed a motion for post-conviction relief (PCR) from the fourteen charges in the Circuit Court of Panola County. The PCR was summarily dismissed. Aggrieved, Readus has appealed to this Court arguing he was entitled to an evidentiary hearing because his motion and affidavits raised questions as to whether the guilty pleas were involuntary, whether counsel was ineffective, and whether the sentence was unconstitutionally disproportionate to the crime. Readus also requests that this Court consider this appeal as to all fourteen convictions.

¶ 2. Finding error, we reverse and remand for an evidentiary hearing to determine the merits of Readus' allegations of involuntary plea and ineffective assistance of counsel. We find the issue of proportionality to be without merit.

*211 FACTS

¶ 3. On January 10, 2000, an attorney with the Public Defender's Office was appointed as counsel for Readus. At some point, the attorney was notified that the State intended to call Readus to testify against his accomplice, Nathaniel Watson. On February 3, 2000, Readus refused the State's offer of twenty years' imprisonment, and instead filed a petition to enter open pleas of guilty to all burglary charges. The plea and sentencing hearing was held later the same day. The circuit court carefully questioned Readus to ascertain that the pleas were entered knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily, and that Readus was satisfied with his counsel's performance. The court accepted the pleas, and imposed two consecutive twenty-five-year sentences and consecutive ten year suspended sentences on each of the other charges.

¶ 4. Readus hired new counsel for post-conviction proceedings and filed the PCR motion on March 15, 2001. Readus attached affidavits of himself and his mother in support of his issues of involuntary pleas and ineffective assistance of counsel. In pertinent part, Readus' affidavit averred:

3)That in these cases, I was advised to plead guilty by my lawyer;
4) That I advised him that I only committed two of the actual burglaries. He advised me that it didn't make a difference that I should plead on all of them and that I would only be sentenced on two;
5) As I understood, I would be sent to the "RID" [Regimented Inmate Discipline program] and ten (10) years on paper;
6) That if I had known the true effects of my plea, I would not have made it;
9) That I never discussed the specifics of any charges against me;
10) That I was not aware of what an open plea was. All I knew was that, I would get RID;
11) That I advised my mother prior to the hearing that I would get six months;
12) That I advised my trial counsel that I did not know what an open plea was;
13) I was advised by my lawyer, that if I went to trial that I would be given the max [maximum sentence];
16) That I did not talk to [the attorney] until the day before my plea, in a call from the county jail;
17) That I tried to call [the attorney's] office on three-way calls because I could not dial directly from the jail but my calls were not accepted;
18) That the first time I saw [the attorney] in person was February 3, 2000 when I saw him in Court for my plea;
19) That we talked in the holding tank for about ten (10) minutes prior to my plea.

¶ 5. Readus' mother's affidavit averred that she first spoke with the attorney the morning of the sentencing hearing in anticipation of her testimony. The affidavit stated that the attorney told her that Readus "would get about six years and he said something about papers after that."

¶ 6. Pursuant to Miss.Code Ann. § 99-39-9(2) (Rev.2000), which limits PCR review to one judgment, the circuit court considered the motion only as it related to the charge for which Readus is currently serving time. The court dismissed the motion without a hearing or discovery, finding that it plainly appeared from the motion and the contents of the court file that Readus was not entitled to any relief. Miss.Code Ann. § 99-39-11(2) (Rev.2000). *212 The court found that Readus' affidavit was belied by his sworn testimony at the sentencing hearing and, therefore, the statements in the affidavit were "a sham." The court stated that "Readus' mother's affidavit is no help to the [c]ourt."

LAW AND ANALYSIS

I. DID THE LOWER COURT ERRONEOUSLY CONSIDER THE PCR AS IT RELATED TO ONLY ONE OF THE FOURTEEN CHARGES?

¶ 7. Readus requests that this Court consider his PCR motion as to all fourteen guilty pleas. The circuit court found that § 99-39-9(2) required that it limit post-conviction review to only one of Readus' convictions. Mississippi Code Annotated § 99-39-9(2) (Rev.2000) limits PCR review to a single judgment, requiring a defendant to file one PCR motion per each challenged judgment. The circuit court would have properly limited PCR review to only one of the judgments if the fourteen convictions were contained in fourteen separate judgments. Id. However, no copy of any judgment was included in the record, so we are unable to resolve the question of whether the lower court correctly applied the statute. On remand, the lower court should restrict its review to the number of convictions contained within a single judgment.

II. SHOULD THE LOWER COURT HAVE GRANTED AN EVIDENTIARY HEARING TO DETERMINE WHETHER READUS' PLEA WAS INVOLUNTARY AND WHETHER HE RECEIVED INEFFECTIVE ASSISTANCE OF COUNSEL?

¶ 8. The lower court may summarily dismiss a PCR if "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." Miss.Code Ann. § 99-39-11(2) (Rev.2000). The procedural posture of an appeal from summary dismissal of a PCR "is analogous to that when a defendant in a civil action moves to dismiss for failure to state a claim." Young v. State, 731 So.2d 1120, 1122(¶ 6) (Miss.1999) (quoting Myers v. State, 583 So.2d 174, 175-76 (Miss. 1991)). "Thus, as in a 12(b)(6) dismissal, this Court reviews the record de novo to determine whether [the movant] has failed to demonstrate `a claim procedurally alive substantial[ly] showing denial of a state or federal right....'" Young, 731 So.2d at 1122(¶ 9) (quoting Myers, 583 So.2d at 176). "In other words, has [the movant] alleged facts which require further inquiry in the expanded setting of an evidentiary hearing?" Myers, 583 So.2d at 175 (quoting Billiot v. State, 515 So.2d 1234, 1236 (Miss.1987)).

1. Involuntary plea

¶ 9.

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Bluebook (online)
837 So. 2d 209, 2003 WL 245350, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/readus-v-state-missctapp-2003.