State v. Chad Poole ( 2000 )

IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OF TENNESSEE
AT JACKSON FILED
JANUARY 2000 SESSION
March 17, 2000
Cecil Crowson, Jr.
Appellate Court Clerk
CHAD DOUGLAS POOLE, * No. W1999-01518-CCA-R3-PC
Appellant, * HARDEMAN COUNTY
VS. * Hon. John Kerry Blackwood, Judge
STATE OF TENNESSEE, * (Post-Conviction)
Appellee. *
FOR THE APPELLANT: FOR THE APPELLEE:
DAVID H. CRICHTON MICHAEL E. MOORE
111 West Market Street Solicitor General
P. O. Box 651
Bolivar, TN 38008 CLINTON J. MORGAN
Counsel for the State
425 Fifth Avenue North
Nashville, TN 37243
ELIZABETH T. RICE
District Attorney General
JAMES WALTER FREELAND, JR.
and
JERRY W. NORWOOD
302 Market Street
Somerville, TN 38068
OPINION FILED: _______________
AFFIRMED PURSUANT TO RULE 20
JOHN EVERETT WILLIAMS,
Judge
ORDER
The petitioner, Chad Douglas Poole, appeals from the Hardeman County
Circuit Court’s order denying his petition for post-conviction relief. His petition
followed guilty pleas to especially aggravated robbery and other charges not related
to this appeal. For the especially aggravated robbery, he was sentenced to 21
years in the Department of Correction as a standard offender. In this appeal, he
challenges only the especially aggravated robbery conviction and presents only one
argument. He argues that his guilty plea to the especially aggravated robbery is
defective as it was entered unknowingly and involuntarily. After careful review, we
AFFIRM the trial court’s dismissal of the petition for post-conviction relief pursuant
to Tenn. Ct. Crim. R. App. 20.
The basis of the petitioner’s challenge to his plea to especially aggravated
robbery is that at the time of his plea he believed that his sentence would be 15
years. See e.g., State v. Mackey, 553 S.W.2d 337 (Tenn. 1997). He claims that
his counsel advised him that he would receive the minimum sentence, 15 years,
and absent counsel’s statement he would not have pled guilty. At the hearing,
petitioner testified to essentially that fact; however, counsel testified that he did not
advise petitioner that he would receive 15 years but, in fact, stated that the trial
judge may “hit him” on the especially aggravated robbery. The trial court
considered the testimony and found that: Counsel never told the petitioner that he
would receive a 15 year sentence.
We affirm this finding and the trial court’s ruling. First, from the record before
this Court, it appears that the petitioner has neglected to include the relevant guilty
plea papers, a transcript of the guilty plea hearing, and a transcript of the
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sentencing hearing. These documents are essential to our review and the failure
to include them in the record amounts to waiver of the issue. See Tenn. R. App. P.
24(b); State v. Draper, 800 S.W.2d 489 (Tenn. Crim. App. 1990); State v. Bennett,
798 S.W.2d 783 (Tenn. Crim. App. 1990). Second, the lone issue raised in the
petitioner’s brief is one hinging solely upon credibility. The trial court as the trier of
fact makes credibility determinations given that it alone is in the best position to
observe the witnesses. See State v. Odom, 928 S.W.2d 18, 23 (Tenn. 1996). We
therefore accord such determination substantial deference and find no error in this
case. The record before us, while incomplete, does not conflict with the trial court’s
finding.
Accordingly, we AFFIRM the trial court’s order dismissing the petition for
post-conviction relief.
_________________________________
JOHN EVERETT WILLIAMS, Judge
CONCUR:
________________________________
DAVID G. HAYES, Judge
_________________________________
ALAN E. GLENN, Judge
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