Summers v. State

212 S.W.3d 251, 2007 Tenn. LEXIS 15
CourtTennessee Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 23, 2007
StatusPublished
Cited by772 cases

This text of 212 S.W.3d 251 (Summers v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Tennessee Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Summers v. State, 212 S.W.3d 251, 2007 Tenn. LEXIS 15 (Tenn. 2007).

Opinion

OPINION

JANICE M. HOLDER, J.,

delivered the opinion of the court,

in which WILLIAM M. BARKER, C.J., and CORNELIA A. CLARK and GARY R. WADE, JJ., and ADOLPHO A. BIRCH, JR., Sp.J., joined.

The petitioner, Charles G. Summers, filed a habeas corpus petition challenging the legality of his concurrent sentence for misdemeanor escape. The trial court summarily dismissed the petition. The Court of Criminal Appeals reversed, concluding that Summers should be afforded the benefit of counsel and an opportunity to prove his allegations to the trial court under McLaney v. Bell, 59 S.W.3d 90 (Tenn.2001). We granted the State’s application for permission to appeal. For the reasons stated herein, we overrule McLaney to the extent that it can be interpreted to require the appointment of counsel and a hearing whenever a pro se habeas corpus petition alleges that an agreed sentence is illegal based on facts not apparent from the face of the judgment. We hold that summary dismissal may be proper when, as in this case, the petitioner fails to attach to the habeas corpus petition pertinent documents from the record of the underlying proceedings to support his factual assertions. Accordingly, we reverse the judgment of the Court of Criminal Appeals and reinstate the trial court’s judgment dismissing the petition for writ of habeas corpus.

BACKGROUND

The petitioner, Charles G. Summers, was charged in the Giles County Circuit *255 Court with first degree murder, aggravated arson, sale of cocaine, and felony escape. On October 25, 1991, judgments were entered on all four charges. On the first degree murder charge, Summers pleaded nolo contendere to the amended charge of voluntary manslaughter and received a six-year sentence. Summers pleaded guilty to the charges of aggravated arson and the sale of cocaine, and the trial court imposed sentences of twenty-three years and eleven years, respectively. Finally, Summers pleaded guilty to the amended charge of misdemeanor escape, for which he received a sentence of eleven months and twenty-nine days. The three felony sentences were ordered to run consecutively to each other for an effective sentence of forty years. The misdemeanor escape sentence was ordered to run concurrently with the felony sentences.

Almost thirteen years later, on September 24, 2004, Summers filed a pro se habe-as corpus petition in the Hickman County Circuit Court, alleging that he was being held for the other charges when he escaped and that the trial court therefore lacked jurisdiction to order the escape sentence to be served concurrently with the other sentences. Summers attached all four Giles County judgments to his habeas corpus petition, but he did not include any part of the record of the proceedings upon which the judgments were rendered. No offense date is indicated on any of the four judgments. The trial court dismissed Summers’ habeas corpus petition without appointing counsel or holding a hearing.

The Court of Criminal Appeals reversed the summary dismissal and remanded the case to the Hickman County Circuit Court for the appointment of counsel if Summers was indigent and for a determination of whether Summers was being held for the other charges when he escaped. We granted review and appointed counsel to represent Summers for purposes of this appeal.

ANALYSIS

The determination of whether habeas corpus relief should be granted is a question of law. Hart v. State, 21 S.W.3d 901, 903 (Tenn.2000). Therefore, our review is de novo with no presumption of correctness given to the findings and conclusions of the lower courts. State v. Livingston, 197 S.W.3d 710, 712 (Tenn.2006).

The right to seek habeas corpus relief is guaranteed by article I, section 15 of the Tennessee Constitution, which states that “the privilege of the writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in case of rebellion or invasion, the General Assembly shall declare the public safety requires it.” Habeas corpus procedure in Tennessee has been regulated by statute since 1858. State v. Ritchie, 20 S.W.3d 624, 629 (Tenn.2000).

Although no statute of limitations exists for filing a habeas corpus petition, the grounds upon which habeas corpus relief will be granted are narrow. Hickman v. State, 153 S.W.3d 16, 20 (Tenn.2004). Habeas corpus relief is available “only when % appears upon the face of the judgment or the record of the proceedings upon which the judgment is rendered’ that a convicting court was without jurisdiction or authority to sentence a defendant, or that a defendant’s sentence of imprisonment or other restraint has expired.” Archer v. State, 851 S.W.2d 157, 164 (Tenn.1993) (quoting State v. Galloway, 45 Tenn. (5 Cold.) 326, 336-37 (Tenn.1868)). Thus, the writ of habeas corpus will issue only in the case of a void judgment or to free a prisoner after his term of imprisonment or other restraint has expired. Potts v. State, 833 S.W.2d 60, 62 (Tenn.1992). Unlike a post-conviction petition, a habeas corpus petition is used to challenge void and not *256 merely voidable judgments. Id. A voidable judgment is one that is facially valid and requires proof beyond the face of the record or judgment to establish its invalidity. Dykes v. Compton, 978 S.W.2d 528, 529 (Tenn.1998). A void judgment is one that is facially invalid because the court did not have the statutory authority to render such judgment. Id.

Summers contends that his concurrent sentence for misdemeanor escape was imposed in direct contravention of Tennessee Code Annotated section 39-16-605(c) and Tennessee Rule of Criminal Procedure 32(c)(3)(B). The provisions of Tennessee Rule of Criminal Procedure 32(c)(3) incorporate various statutory provisions mandating consecutive sentencing. See Hogan v. Mills, 168 S.W.3d 753, 756 (Tenn.2005). Rule 32(c)(3) provides:

When a defendant is convicted of multiple offenses from one trial or when the defendant has additional sentences not yet fully served as the result of convictions in the same or other courts and the law requires consecutive sentences, the sentence shall be consecutive whether the judgment explicitly so orders or not.
This rule shall apply:
(A) to a sentence for a felony committed while on parole for a felony;
(B) to a sentence for escape or for a felony committed while on escape;

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Bluebook (online)
212 S.W.3d 251, 2007 Tenn. LEXIS 15, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/summers-v-state-tenn-2007.