State v. James Craft

• Court: Court of Appeals of Tennessee
• Decided: July 18, 1997
• Docket: 02C01-9606-CR-00194
• Status: Published

Opinion

IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OF TENNESSEE

AT JACKSON

APRIL 1997 SESSION FILED July 18, 1997

Cecil Crowson, Jr. Appellate C ourt Clerk

JAMES MORNING CRAFT, ) NO. 02C01-9606-CR-00194 ) Appellant ) SHELBY COUNTY ) V. ) HON. W. FRED AXLEY, JUDGE ) STATE OF TENNESSEE, ) (Post-Conviction) ) Appellee ) )

FOR THE APPELLANT FOR THE APPELLEE

James Morning Craft John Knox Walkup Cold Creek Correctional Facility Attorney General and Reporter P.O. Box 1000 450 James Robertson Parkway Henning, Tennessee 38041-1000 Nashville, Tennessee 37243-0493

Elizabeth T. Ryan Assistant Attorney General 450 James Robertson Parkway Nashville, Tennessee 37243-0493

John W. Pierotti District Attorney General 201 Poplar Avenue Memphis, Tennessee 38103-1947

C. Alanda Horne Assistant District Attorney General 201 Poplar Avenue Memphis, Tennessee 38103-1947

OPINION FILED:______

AFFIRMED

William M. Barker, Judge Opinion

The Appellant, James Morning Craft, appeals as of right the Shelby County

Criminal Court’s dismissal of his petition for post-conviction relief. The petition was

dismissed without a hearing, because it was filed outside the applicable statute of

limitations. Although the Appellant raises several issues on appeal, the applicable

statute of limitations period is dispositive. After reviewing the record on appeal, we

find that the trial court properly dismissed the petition.

On January 26, 1988, the Appellant was convicted of felony murder and later

sentenced to life imprisonment. He unsuccessfully appealed that conviction to this

Court. State v. James Morning Craft & Lewis Moorlet, C.C.A. No. 31 (Tenn. Crim.

App., Jackson, Mar. 8, 1989). On August 7, 1989, the Tennessee Supreme Court

denied his permission to appeal.

On April 24, 1992, the Appellant filed a pro se petition requesting post-

conviction relief. After a hearing on the merits the trial court denied the petition and

this Court affirmed. James Craft v. State, C.A.A. No. 02C01-9405-CR-00091 (Tenn.

Crim. App., Jackson, Dec. 7, 1994). At some point, the Appellant filed a second

petition for post-conviction relief which was dismissed in January of 1994. The

Appellant filed this third petition on July 11, 1996, alleging that the trial court erred by

allowing him to be tried on an invalid indictment and that the trial court submitted

erroneous information to the Department of Correction. The trial court dismissed the

petition as time barred by the statute of limitations.

The Appellant’s post-conviction petition is governed by the now-repealed Post-

Conviction Procedure Act. Tenn. Code Ann. § 40-30-101 et seq (repealed 1995).

That Act imposed a three year statute of limitations on post-conviction petitions.

Tenn. Code Ann. § 40-30-102 (repealed 1995). It also provided that the limitations

period runs from the date of the final action of the highest state appellate court to

which an appeal is taken. Id.

2 With regard to this case, the final action of a state appellate court took place on

August 7, 1989, when the Tennessee Supreme Court denied the Appellant’s

permission to appeal petition. The statute of limitations expired three years after that

date, in August of 1992. Consequently, the Appellant’s petition for post-conviction

relief, which was filed in 1996, is barred by the statute of limitation.

Any contention by the Appellant that the new Post-Conviction Procedure Act,

effective May 10, 1995, provided him with a one-year window of opportunity within

which to file his post-conviction petition is meritless. Similar attempts to circumvent

the statute of limitations in this manner have been previously rejected by panels of this

Court. See Roy Barnett v. State, C.C.A. No. 03C01-9512-CV-00394 (Tenn. Crim.

App., Knoxville, Feb. 20, 1997); Stephen Koprowski v. State, C.A.A. No. 03C01-9511-

CC-00365 (Tenn. Crim. App., Knoxville, Jan. 28, 1997); Johnny L. Butler v. State,

C.C.A. No. 02C01-9509-CR-00289 (Tenn. Crim. App., Jackson, Dec. 2, 1996). But

see Arnold Carter v. State, C.C.A. No. 03C01-9509-CC-00270 (Tenn. Crim. App.,

Knoxville, July 11, 1996).

Accordingly, we affirm the trial court’s dismissal of the Appellant’s post-

conviction petition.

__________________________ WILLIAM M. BARKER, JUDGE

CONCUR:

__________________________ JOSEPH M. TIPTON, JUDGE

__________________________ DAVID G. HAYES, JUDGE