State v. Larry Catron ( 1998 )

IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OF TENNESSEE
AT JACKSON
MAY 1998 SESSION FILED
June 23, 1998
Cecil Crowson, Jr.
Appellate C ourt Clerk
LARRY CATRON, )
) C.C.A. No. 02C01-9710-CC-00376
Appellant, )
) Lauderdale County
V. )
) Honorable Joseph E. Walker, Judge
)
STATE OF TENNESSEE, )
) (Habeas Corpus)
Appellee. )
FOR THE APPELLANT: FOR THE APPELLEE:
Larry Catron, Pro Se John Knox Walkup
#103691 Attorney General & Reporter
Cold Creek Correctional Facility
P.O. Box 1000 Marvin E. Clements, Jr.
Henning, TN 38041-1000 Assistant Attorney General
Cordell Hull Building, 2nd Floor
425 5th Avenue North
Nashville, TN 37243-0493
Elizabeth T. Rice
District Attorney General
302 Market Street
Somerville, TN 38068
OPINION FILED: ___________________
AFFIRMED
PAUL G. SUMMERS,
Judge
OPINION
The appellant, Larry Catron, filed a pro se petition for writ of habeas
corpus in the Lauderdale County Circuit Court alleging that his convictions are
void. The trial court found that the petition failed to state a claim for habeas
corpus relief and dismissed the petition without appointing counsel and
conducting a hearing. The appellant appeals pro se. We affirm.
The appellant is serving two concurrent life sentences in the Cold Creek
Correctional Facility in Lauderdale County based on guilty pleas to armed
robbery in Jefferson and Sevier Counties. This Court affirmed the dismissal of
the appellant’s multiple post-conviction petitions in April 1988, June 1992,
February 1994, and May 1994.
In September 1997, the appellant filed the present petition for habeas
corpus relief. He alleged that his convictions were null and void because his
guilty pleas were not voluntarily and intelligently made. He averred that his rights
to due process and equal protection were violated because of the court’s failure
to advise the appellant that another defendant’s convictions were being used to
enhance his sentence. The trial court dismissed the petition, holding that the
appellant failed to allege a claim for habeas corpus relief.
“Habeas corpus relief is available in Tennessee only when ‘it 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);
see Tenn. Code Ann. § 29-21-101 (1980). If a court is without jurisdiction or
authority to sentence a defendant, then the judgment is void. Passarella v.
State, 891 S.W.2d 619, 626 (Tenn. Crim. App. 1994). Otherwise, the judgment
is voidable and subject to review by a petition for post-conviction relief. Id.-2-
The appellant argues that the court lacked jurisdiction to enhance his
sentence based upon someone else’s convictions. In his brief, the appellant
explains that he is Caucasian, and that the Fayette County record of Larry
Laverne Catron, an African-American, was used to determine his sentence at the
hearing on his guilty plea. He contends that he did not find out about the
mistake until the appeal of his post-conviction petition from the Jefferson County
Criminal Court. See Catron v. State, No. 03C01-9112-CR-394 (Tenn. Crim.
App., filed at Knoxville June 24, 1992). The issue in that post-conviction petition
was whether the appellant voluntarily and knowingly entered his guilty plea when
the trial court allegedly failed to advise him of his right against self-incrimination.
In that appeal, the assistant attorney general referred to Larry Laverne Catron in
the state’s brief. In the statement of the facts, the state wrote that during the
Jefferson County plea hearing, the trial court referred to the appellant’s other
cases in Fayette County and other counties. The assistant attorney general also
wrote that ”[t]he trial judge was familiar with two of the petitioner’s other hearings
and before he discussed a plea for the instant offenses, he asked the defendant
about his other cases. The trial judge remembered that the petitioner had pled
guilty to similar charges (armed robbery and burglary) in Sevier County. . . . The
trial judge knew that, in another case, the defendant had been convicted in a jury
trial. State v. Larry Laverne Catron, Fayette County, CCA No. 4, opinion filed
March 6, 1985.” We fail to see any reference to Larry Laverne Catron as an
African-American in the record before us. Furthermore, assuming that the
appellant’s sentence was improperly determined, it appears that the trial judge
referred to the Fayette County convictions at the Jefferson County guilty plea
hearing in front of the appellant. The appellant apparently has no Fayette
County convictions.
The appellant does not argue that his sentence was unauthorized by law,
only that his sentence was improperly determined. This is not a cognizable
ground for habeas corpus relief. The appellant could have corrected the trial
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court at the plea hearing, discussed it with his attorney after the hearing, or filed
a petition for post-conviction relief. The appellant did not raise the issue in his
previous multiple post-conviction petitions. His last two petitions were dismissed
as barred by the statute of limitations. It appears that the appellant should have
known of a mistake, if there was a mistake, at the guilty plea hearing, not at the
time of the appeal of his second post-conviction petition, as he claims. From the
record before us, we fail to see how his Sevier County guilty plea and life
sentence are void.
Appellant has failed to state a cognizable ground for habeas corpus relief.
It would be improper for the trial court to treat the petition as one for post-
conviction relief. The petition was filed in the wrong county, and the one-year
statute of limitations has run.
The trial court’s judgment is AFFIRMED.
________________________
PAUL G. SUMMERS, Judge
CONCUR:
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_________________________
JOHN H. PEAY, Judge
_________________________
THOMAS T. W OODALL, Judge
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