Caston v. State

• Decision Date: 13 February 2007
• Docket Number: No. 2005-CP-01398-COA.,2005-CP-01398-COA.
• Citation: 949 So.2d 852
• Parties: Clenard CASTON, Appellant v. STATE of Mississippi, Appellee.
• Court: Mississippi Court of Appeals

949 So.2d 852

Clenard CASTON, Appellant v. STATE of Mississippi, Appellee.

No. 2005-CP-01398-COA.

Court of Appeals of Mississippi.

February 13, 2007.

Clenard Caston, Appellant, pro se.

Office of the Attorney General by Deirdre McCrory, attorney for appellee.

EN BANC.

MYERS, P.J., for the Court.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

¶ 1. On August 21, 2002, in the Pike County Circuit Court, Clenard Caston entered a guilty plea to one count of vehicular homicide (count one) and two counts of aggravated assault (counts two and three). Caston was sentenced to serve a term of twenty-five years on the vehicular homicide count and twenty years on each of the two aggravated assault counts. The sentences in all three counts were ordered to run consecutively. The trial court ordered Caston into the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections to serve twelve and one-half years on count one and ten years on each of counts two and three, with the remaining twelve and one-half years on count one and ten years on each of counts two and three to be served under post-release supervision. Caston was also ordered to complete an alcohol and drug rehabilitation program and to pay a $5,000 fine, restitution, attorneys' fees and court costs.

¶ 2. Caston filed a motion for post-conviction relief, seeking to have his judgment and sentence vacated; however, the trial court denied Caston's motion. Aggrieved, Caston now appeals to this Court arguing that the circuit court erred in denying his motion for post-conviction relief. On appeal, Caston raises the following issues:

I. NECESSITY OF AN EVIDENTIARY HEARING

II. DEFECTIVE INDICTMENT

III. INEFFECTIVE ASSISTANCE OF COUNSEL

IV. INVOLUNTARY PLEA

¶ 3. Finding no error, we affirm the denial of Caston's petition for post-conviction relief.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

¶ 4. A trial court's denial of post-conviction relief will not be reversed absent a finding that the trial court's decision was clearly erroneous; however, questions of law are reviewed de novo. Buck v. State, 838 So.2d 256, 258(¶ 6) (Miss.2003). Under article 3, section 27 of the Mississippi Constitution and pursuant to Mississippi Code Annotated section 99-7-1 (Rev. 2006), the circuit court obtains subject matter jurisdiction over a criminal offense when the defendant is served with an indictment issued by the grand jury. When an indictment is challenged as defective, the jurisdiction of the circuit court to hear the matter and impose a sentence is called into question. The decision of whether a circuit court had proper jurisdiction to hear a particular matter is a question of law and is, therefore, reviewed de novo. Jensen v. State, 798 So.2d 383, 385(¶ 6) (Miss.2001).

DISCUSSION

I. NECESSITY OF AN EVIDENTIARY HEARING

¶ 5. Caston asserts that the circuit court erred in denying his motion to vacate the judgment and sentence without first holding an evidentiary hearing on the issues of (1) defective indictment, (2) ineffective assistance of counsel, and (3) involuntary plea. In order to have obtained the right to an evidentiary hearing on the merits of his defective indictment, ineffective assistance of counsel, and involuntary plea claims, Caston was required to establish a prima facie case of each allegation in his motion to the circuit court. Robertson v. State, 669 So.2d 11, 13 (Miss.1996). When a motion for post-conviction relief is filed, the trial judge is obligated to review the motion, all files, records, transcripts, and correspondence relating to the judgment. Miss.Code Ann. § 99-39-11(1) (Rev.2000); Cole v. State, 608 So.2d 1313, 1325 (Miss. 1992). If upon such review it is clear that there is no entitlement to relief, the judge may enter an order dismissing the action. Miss.Code Ann. § 99-39-11(2) (Rev.2000); Cole, 608 So.2d at 1324. "We adhere to the principle that a post-conviction relief petition which meets basic pleading requirements is sufficient to mandate an evidentiary hearing unless it appears beyond doubt that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts in support of his claim which would entitle him to relief." Robertson, 669 So.2d at 13 (quoting Harveston v. State, 597 So.2d 641, 643 (Miss.1992)). A post-conviction claim for relief is properly dismissed without the benefit of an evidentiary hearing where it is manifestly without merit. Id. (citing Sanders v. State, 440 So.2d 278, 284 (Miss.1983)). Therefore, our review of the circuit court's decision to deny Caston's motion to vacate the judgment and sentence without first holding an evidentiary hearing is dependent upon whether Caston supported his various claims with a prima facie case, made upon the face of his petition, or whether the court correctly determined that Caston had produced no set of facts in support of his claim that would entitle him to relief.

II. DEFECTIVE INDICTMENT

¶ 6. Caston argues that the prosecutor's failure to include the word "serious" as a modifier for the phrase "bodily injury," denied him actual notice of whether he was being charged with the felony crime of aggravated assault under Mississippi Code section 97-3-7(2) or the misdemeanor crime of simple assault under Mississippi Code section 97-3-7(1) (Rev.2006).¹ Caston argues that the indictment's ambiguity prevented him from being fully apprised of the charges he was facing, and more precisely, the minimum and maximum penalties that the charges carried, when he entered his guilty plea.

¶ 7 The crux of this case is centered around Caston's argument that the prosecutor's failure to include, in counts two and three of the indictment, the word "serious" as a modifier for the phrase "bodily injury" constitutes a failure to charge a crime under subsection (a) of the aggravated assault statute, Mississippi Code Annotated section 97-3-7(2) (Rev.2006).² In support of his position, Caston cites Hawthorne v. State, 751 So.2d 1090, 1094(¶ 19) (Miss.Ct. App.1999), for the proposition that the absence of the word "serious" from the phrase "serious bodily injury" in the aggravated assault count results in the omission of an essential element of the offense and renders the indictment fatally defective. The Hawthorne decision relied heavily on Peterson v. State, 671 So.2d 647, 653 (Miss.1996), in which a five-to-four majority of our supreme court held that an indictment must set forth every essential element of an offense with precision and certainty or every fact which is an element of a prima facie case of guilt.

¶ 8. Justice Pittman, joined by Justices Roberts, Smith, and Mills, penned a fervent dissent to the Peterson majority holding in which he exposed the majority's reliance on cases which were decided prior to the 1979 enactment of the Uniform Rules of Circuit Court, now the Uniform Rules of Circuit and County Court. Peterson, 671 So.2d at 660 (Pittman, J. dissenting) (quoting Harden v. State, 465 So.2d 321, 324 (Miss.1985)); See Love v. State, 211 Miss. 606, 611, 52 So.2d 470, 472 (1951). The majority of this Court is in agreement with Justice Pittman's dissent that the Peterson majority applied in error the strict standard of review under which the sufficiency of indictments were analyzed prior to the enactment of the Rules. Justice Pittman's dissent went on to reiterate our supreme court's holding in Harden, that since the adoption of the Rules "all questions regarding the sufficiency of indictments have been determined by reference to Rule 2.05," now URCCC 7.06.

¶ 9. Under the Rules, the standard under which the sufficiency of an indictment is analyzed is decidedly less stringent. The post-rules standard requires only that the indictment include the seven enumerated items of Rule 7.06 and provide the defendant with actual notice of the crime charged so that "from a fair reading of the indictment taken as a whole the nature of the charges against the accused are clear." Id. at 661 (quoting Henderson v. State, 445 So.2d 1364, 1368 (Miss.1984)). The Rule makes clear that "[f]ormal and technical words are not necessary . . . if the offense can be substantially described without them." Wilson v. State, 815 So.2d 439, 443(¶ 10) (Miss.Ct. App.2002). This post-rules standard for determining the sufficiency of indictments has, with the exception of the holdings of Peterson and Hawthorne, been repeatedly followed by our supreme court, most recently in Spears v. State, 942 So.2d 772, 774(¶ 9) (Miss.2006), and by this Court, most recently in Wilson, 815 So.2d at 443(¶ 10) (citing Harbin v. State, 478 So.2d 796, 799 (Miss.1985)).

¶ 10. Although the law may have differed in former days, it is clear that our starting point today for determining the validity of an indictment is Rule 7.06 of the Uniform Rules of Circuit and County Court. See Harbin, 478 So.2d at 798-99. Rule 7.06 provides as follows:

The indictment upon which the defendant is to be tried shall be a plain, concise and definite written statement of the essential facts constituting the offense charged and shall fully notify the defendant of the nature and cause of the accusation. Formal and technical words are not necessary in an indictment, if the offense can be substantially described without them. An indictment shall also include the following:

1. The name of the accused;

2. The date on which the indictment was filed in court;

3. A statement that the prosecution is brought in the name and by the authority of the State of Mississippi;

4. The county and judicial district in which the indictment is brought;

5. The date and, if applicable, the time at which the offense was alleged to have been committed. Failure to state the correct date shall not render the indictment insufficient 6. The signature of the foreman of the grand jury issuing it; and

7. The words "against the peace and dignity of the state."

The court on motion of the defendant may strike from the indictment any surplusage, including unnecessary allegations or aliases.

[Adopted effective May 1, 1995; amended August 26, 1999.]

URCCC 7.06.

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