Meriweather v. State

• Decision Date: 23 September 2022
• Docket Number: M2021-00990-CCA-R3-HC
• Parties: CHARLES EDWARD MERIWEATHER v. STATE OF TENNESSEE
• Court: Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals

CHARLES EDWARD MERIWEATHER
v.
STATE OF TENNESSEE

No. M2021-00990-CCA-R3-HC

Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, Nashville

September 23, 2022

Assigned on Briefs September 13, 2022

Appeal from the Criminal Court for Davidson County Nos. 2005-C-1868, 2005-B-713 Jennifer Smith, Judge

Petitioner, Charles Edward Meriweather, appeals the denial of his petition for writ of habeas corpus. Petitioner argues that his judgments of conviction are void because the trial court was without jurisdiction to accept his 2011 guilty pleas. Following a thorough review, we affirm.

Tenn. R. App. P. 3 Appeal as of Right; Judgment of the Criminal Court Affirmed

Nathan Cate, Nashville, Tennessee, for the appellant, Charles Edward Meriweather.

Herbert H. Slatery III, Attorney General and Reporter; T. Austin Watkins, Senior Assistant Attorney General; Glenn R. Funk, District Attorney General; and Doug Thurman, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.

Robert L. Holloway, Jr., J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which James Curwood Witt, Jr., and Kyle A. Hixson, JJ., joined.

OPINION

ROBERT L. HOLLOWAY, JR., JUDGE

Factual and Procedural Background

In 2006, Petitioner pled guilty to sale of a Schedule II controlled substance greater than 0.5 grams in Davidson County Criminal Case No. 2005-B-713 and to possession of a Schedule II controlled substance over 0.5 grams with intent to sell or deliver in Davidson County Criminal Case No. 2005-C-1868. Charles Edward Meriweather v. State, No. M2008-02329-CCA-R3-PC, 2010 WL 27947, at *1 (Tenn. Crim. App. Jan. 7, 2010). Pursuant to a plea agreement, the trial court sentenced Petitioner, as a Range II multiple offender, to twelve years for each offense "with one year to serve at 100 percent in the

1

Department of Correction, followed by five years of supervised probation." Id. The court ordered the sentences to be served consecutively, "for a total of two years to serve at 100 percent in the Department of Correction, followed by a term of ten years of supervised probation." Id.

Petitioner subsequently filed a petition for post-conviction relief, arguing that he received ineffective assistance of counsel and that his guilty pleas were unknowing and involuntarily entered due to trial counsel's failure to inform him that the sentences in his plea bargain agreement were illegal. Id. The post-conviction court denied relief; however, on appeal in January 2010, this court...