Turner v. State

864 So. 2d 288, 2003 WL 21790169
Court of Appeals of Mississippi·Decided August 5, 2003·No. 2002-CP-00836-COA·Published·Cited by 18 cases

Opinion

864 So.2d 288 (2003)

Tommy TURNER, Jr., Appellant,
v.
STATE of Mississippi, Appellee.

No. 2002-CP-00836-COA.

Court of Appeals of Mississippi.

August 5, 2003.
Rehearing Denied October 14, 2003.
Certiorari Denied January 22, 2004.

*289 Tommy Turner, Jr. (Pro Se), for appellant.

Office of the Attorney General, by John R. Henry, for appellee.

Before SOUTHWICK, P.J., LEE, IRVING and MYERS, JJ.

IRVING, J., for the court.

¶ 1. Tommy Turner, Jr., in a pro se brief, challenges the denial of his motion for post-conviction relief by the Circuit Court of Lauderdale County. We find no error in the ruling of the trial court; therefore, we affirm.

FACTS

¶ 2. In 1999, a Lauderdale County grand jury indicted Turner for the felony of DUI manslaughter pursuant to section 63-11-30 of the Mississippi Code of 1972 as annotated and amended. Approximately two years later, Turner filed a petition in which he asked the Circuit Court of Lauderdale County to accept his plea of guilty to felony DUI manslaughter. The trial court accepted Turner's plea of guilty, convicted him of DUI manslaughter, and sentenced him to twenty years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections, with twelve years suspended, and to five years of supervised probation.

¶ 3. Subsequently, Turner filed a petition for post-conviction relief in which he alleged that his plea of guilty was entered unintelligently, that he received ineffective assistance of counsel, that he was denied a speedy trial, that there was no factual basis to support the plea, that the indictment was defective, and that the trial court erred in accepting the plea because the court failed to make sufficient inquiry to determine whether Turner understood the nature of the charge against him.

¶ 4. In a very detailed order, the trial court found, after a perusal of the applicable records, that the factual claims made *290 by Turner in his motion for post-conviction collateral relief were false and belied by the transcript of the plea hearing. Consequently, the trial court denied the requested relief without an evidentiary hearing.

ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF THE ISSUES

¶ 5. When reviewing a lower court's decision to deny a petition for post-conviction relief, this Court will not disturb the trial court's factual findings unless they are found to be clearly erroneous. Brown v. State, 731 So.2d 595, 598(¶ 6) (Miss.1999) (citing Bank of Mississippi v. Southern Mem'l Park, Inc., 677 So.2d 186, 191 (Miss.1996)). However, where questions of law are raised, the applicable standard of review is de novo. Id.

¶ 6. In his appeal, Turner argues that his plea of guilty was involuntary and was brought about by the ineffective assistance of counsel. He lists what he describes as several omissions of counsel to support his assertion. Turner first proclaims that his plea of guilty was not knowingly and intelligently made because his counsel failed to advise him of his right to a speedy trial. He further contends that he was denied due process of law because his indictment was defective and because neither the trial court nor his attorney advised him of the elements of the charge and the effect of the guilty plea upon the various trial rights constitutionally bestowed upon him. Moreover, he proclaims that there was no factual basis to support his guilty plea. Therefore, Turner concludes that the trial court erred when it denied him post-conviction relief.

¶ 7. A guilty plea must be made voluntarily in order to satisfy the defendant's constitutional rights. Taylor v. State, 682 So.2d 359, 362 (Miss.1996). "It is essential that an accused have knowledge of the critical elements of the charge against him, that he fully understands the charge, how it involves him, the effects of a guilty plea to the charge, and what might happen to him in the sentencing phase as a result of having entered the plea of guilty." Reeder v. State, 783 So.2d 711, 717(¶ 20) (Miss. 2001) (citing Smith v. State, 636 So.2d 1220,1225 (Miss.1994)).

Denial of Speedy Trial

¶ 8. Turner alleges that he was denied due process when his counsel failed to inform him of his right to a speedy trial. He further asserts that no evidence exists to demonstrate he knowingly waived this right before pleading guilty. Turner points to the time span between the filing of his grand jury indictment on July 28, 1999, his conviction on April 3, 2001, and his sentencing on April 24, 2001, as evidence of his being denied a speedy trial. Because of this delay, Turner explains that he possessed a defense to the charge because the State failed to provide him with a speedy trial. Therefore, because his counsel did not inform him of this defense, Turner proclaims that he was prejudiced since he is now prohibited from asserting this defense. According to Turner, this foreclosure was proximately caused by his counsel's ineffective assistance and constitutes a denial of due process.

¶ 9. We find no merit in Turner's contention concerning his right to a speedy trial. First, the transcript of the guilty plea reveals that Turner was told that he had a right to "speedy public trial by a jury" and that by pleading guilty he waived that right. The transcript also reveals that the trial judge asked him if he wanted to waive that right, to which Turner answered in the affirmative. Second, as the trial court found, "regardless of the length of the delay between his indictment and sentencing, [Turner] entered a plea of guilty to the offense of DUI manslaughter, [and] a valid guilty plea waives the right to *291 a speedy trial, whether that right is of constitutional or statutory origin." Rowe v. State, 735 So.2d 399, 400(¶ 3) (Miss. 1999).

Advisement of the Elements of the Charge, and Consequences of the Plea

¶ 10. As a part of his argument that his guilty plea was not voluntary, Turner states that neither the trial court nor his attorney advised him of the elements of the charge or the rights he was forfeiting by entering the guilty plea. Turner asserts that he should have been informed as to what the State had to prove against him concerning a DUI death charge.

¶ 11. The record is clear that Turner was aware of the charge to which he pleaded guilty, as well as its elements, and that he knew the effect of a guilty plea upon his constitutional rights. The following exchange occurred between Turner and the trial court at the plea hearing:

Q: Okay. DUI manslaughter is a felony crime that carries a minimum and maximum possible punishment of from 0 to 25 years imprisonment in the penitentiary and a fine of 0 up to $10, 000. Do you understand that?
A: Yes, sir.
Q: Mr. Kieronski filed this guilty plea document that I'm looking at. It's called a petition to plead guilty. It was signed about a week ago. It has a signature right there of Tommy Turner, Jr. Is that your signature?
A: Yes, sir.
Q: Did you go over this guilty plea petition with your attorney before you signed it?
A: Yes, sir.
Q: Did you read this or did he read it to you?
A: Well, I read it and he read it to me.
Q: Do you understand it okay?

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Turner v. State, 864 So. 2d 288, 2003 WL 21790169 (Mich. Ct. App. 2003).

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