Taylor v. State

Decision Date21 June 1999
PartiesMontro TAYLOR, Appellant, v. STATE of Tennessee, Appellee, and Robert Irwin Gwin, Appellee, v. State of Tennessee, Appellant.
CourtTennessee Supreme Court

John Knox Walkup, Attorney General & Reporter, Michael E. Moore, Solicitor General, Gordon W. Smith, Associate Solicitor General, Nashville, William L. Gibbons, District Attorney General, 30th Judicial District, for State.

Marti L. Kaufman, Monroe, Kaufman & McGhee, Memphis, for Taylor and Gwin.

O P I N I O N

DROWOTA, J.

The sole issue in this consolidated appeal is whether a sentence imposed under a statute which was subsequently declared unconstitutional by this Court constitutes an illegal sentence, which is void, and may be challenged and corrected at any time without regard to the post-conviction statute of limitations. Because the statute had not been declared unconstitutional prior to the time the sentences were imposed, the sentences are not illegal and thus void. They are instead voidable sentences which must be challenged within the time prescribed by the post-conviction statute of limitations. Since the petitions in this case were filed beyond the applicable three-year post-conviction statute of limitations, the trial courts properly dismissed the petitions. Accordingly, the judgment of the Court of Criminal Appeals modifying Gwin's sentence to life imprisonment is reversed and the judgment of the trial court dismissing the petition is reinstated. The judgment of the Court of Criminal Appeals affirming the trial court's dismissal of Montro Taylor's petition is affirmed. 1

I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND
A. Robert Gwin

On January 5, 1972, an employee of a grocery store in Memphis was shot and killed during a robbery of the store. Robert Gwin was tried for the murder, and on May 21, 1973, a Memphis jury found Gwin guilty of first degree murder in the perpetration of a felony and sentenced him to 100 years imprisonment. On appeal, the conviction and sentence were affirmed. Gwin v. State, 523 S.W.2d 636 (Tenn.Crim.App.1975), cert. denied (Tenn.1975). Four years later, in January of 1979, former Governor Ray Blanton commuted Gwin's sentence to time served. On April 21, 1994, the Tennessee Board of Pardons and Paroles regained custody of Gwin from the Georgia Department of Corrections due to an alleged commutation violation. On December 20, 1994, then Governor Ned McWherter revoked Gwin's commutation thereby reinstating the original 100-year sentence.

On November 11, 1995, Gwin filed a pro se petition for post-conviction relief challenging the validity of his sentence on the ground that the statute under which it was imposed had been declared unconstitutional by this Court. The trial court dismissed Gwin's petition, and Gwin appealed. Relying upon State v. Burkhart, 566 S.W.2d 871, 873 (Tenn.1978), in which this court stated that an illegal sentence is void and may be challenged and corrected at any time, the Court of Criminal Appeals reversed the trial court's judgment, held the petition was not time-barred by the post-conviction statute of limitations, and modified Gwin's sentence to life imprisonment. Thereafter, we granted the State's application for permission to appeal.

B. Montro Taylor

On December 19, 1971, Montro Taylor, Hugh Briggs, and an unidentified accomplice robbed a supermarket in Memphis and killed the produce manager of the store. On July 1, 1976, Taylor and Briggs were convicted of murder in the perpetration of a robbery. The jury imposed a 199-year sentence for each murder conviction, and this Court affirmed the convictions and sentences on appeal. Briggs v. State, 573 S.W.2d 157 (Tenn.1978). 2

On January 27, 1997, Taylor filed this, his first petition for post-conviction relief challenging the validity of his sentence on the ground that it was imposed pursuant to a statute that had been declared unconstitutional by this Court. The trial court dismissed the petition, and the Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the dismissal, concluding that the petition is time-barred by the post-conviction statute of limitations.

Taylor filed an application for permission to appeal, which we granted and consolidated with the State's appeal in Gwin. We must now determine whether a sentence imposed under a statute later declared unconstitutional by this Court is (1) void and illegal and subject to being corrected at any time regardless of the post-conviction statute of limitations or (2) voidable and subject to the post-conviction statute of limitations.

II. LEGAL BACKGROUND

To place this issue in context, we will briefly summarize the historical events which culminated in this Court's decision in Miller v. State, 584 S.W.2d 758 (Tenn.1979), that declared the statute under which the petitioners were sentenced unconstitutional.

Prior to 1829, the common law crime of murder in Tennessee was punishable only by a sentence of death. Bratton v. State, 29 Tenn. (10 Hum.) 103, 105-06 (1849). In 1829, the General Assembly enacted a statute which divided the crime into first and second degree murder, with the death penalty reserved as the punishment for first degree murder. 1829 Tenn. Pub. Acts 23. The 1829 Act also provided that "[e]very person convicted of the crime of murder in the first degree, or as accessory before the fact to such crime, shall suffer death by hanging by the neck." Id. at § 4. In 1913, the method of execution was changed from hanging to electrocution. 1913 Tenn. Pub. Acts 36. Two years later, in 1915, the General Assembly abolished the death penalty for murder and replaced it with a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment. 1915 Tenn. Pub. Acts 181. However, the death penalty was reinstated as a possible punishment for first degree murder four years later, in 1919, by a statute which afforded the jury discretion to impose the death penalty, or if mitigating circumstances were found, the jury had discretion to impose a sentence of life imprisonment or imprisonment for any term over twenty years. 1919 Tenn. Pub. Acts 5, § 1.

Both Gwin and Taylor were sentenced pursuant to the provisions of the 1919 Act which were in effect at the time these offenses occurred in 1971 and 1972.

In June of 1972, the United States Supreme Court held the Georgia death penalty statute violative of the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment because it entrusted the life or death decision to the unfettered discretion of the jury. Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238, 92 S.Ct. 2726, 33 L.Ed.2d 346 (1972). The Georgia statute was representative of the other death penalty statutes in effect throughout the country, including Tennessee.

Responding to the Furman decision, the General Assembly in 1973, enacted a law creating a new capital sentencing scheme which, among other things, revised the possible punishments for first degree murder to death, life imprisonment, or imprisonment for some period over twenty-five years. 1973 Tenn. Pub. Acts 192. However, in 1974, this Court struck down the 1973 Act as violative of Article II, § 17 of the Tennessee Constitution because its provisions embraced more than one subject and not all of the subject matter was set forth in the caption. State v. Hailey, 505 S.W.2d 712 (Tenn.1974).

In response to Hailey, the General Assembly passed legislation which amended the definition of first degree murder and mandated a death penalty for all persons convicted of first degree murder and for all persons convicted as an accessory before the fact of first degree murder. 1974 Tenn. Pub. Acts. 462. The 1974 Act was held unconstitutional by this Court in Collins v. State, 550 S.W.2d 643 (Tenn.1977), because the United States Supreme Court, in three decisions, had invalidated, as violative of the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments, similar statutes prescribing a mandatory sentence of death. See Woodson v. North Carolina, 428 U.S. 280, 96 S.Ct. 2978, 49 L.Ed.2d 944 (1976); Roberts v. Louisiana, 428 U.S. 325, 96 S.Ct. 3001, 49 L.Ed.2d 974 (1976); Williams v. Oklahoma, 428 U.S. 907, 96 S.Ct. 3218, 49 L.Ed.2d 1215 (1976).

The Collins court explained that its decision declaring the 1974 Act unconstitutional had the effect of reviving the non-death penalty sentencing provisions of the 1919 Act, which allowed a jury to sentence a person convicted of first degree murder to life imprisonment or some other period of imprisonment over twenty years. Two years later, however, in 1979, this Court in Miller held the entire 1919 Act invalid because the Act did not have a severability clause which allowed this Court to elide the death penalty provisions and uphold the non-capital sentencing provisions. Miller, 584 S.W.2d at 765. The Miller court explained that its holding had the effect of reviving the 1915 Act which provided a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment for all persons convicted of first degree murder. Id. Accordingly, this Court's 1979 decision in Miller struck down the 1919 statute under which Gwin had been sentenced to a 100-year term in 1973 and Taylor had been sentenced to a 199-year term in 1976.

III. VOID OR VOIDABLE SENTENCES

In this appeal, the State contends that the petitioners' sentences are not illegal because the 1919 statute was presumptively constitutional at the time the sentences were imposed. Therefore, the State argues that the sentences are not void and subject to being corrected at any time, but are, instead, merely voidable and subject to being corrected only if challenged in a timely post-conviction petition. Since the post-conviction petitions in these cases were filed beyond the statute of limitations, the State argues that the claims are time-barred and should not be considered. In contrast, Taylor and Gwin argue that the State is imposing an overly narrow interpretation onto State v. Burkhart, 566 S.W.2d 871, 873 (Tenn.1978). According to the petitioners, a sentence is illegal and void if the statute under which the sentence is imposed is subsequently...

To continue reading

Request your trial
867 cases
  • Workman v. State
    • United States
    • Supreme Court of Tennessee
    • 3 Enero 2000
    ...state constitutional writ of habeas corpus was available to challenge only void, as opposed to voidable, judgments. See Taylor v. State, 995 S.W.2d 78, 83 (Tenn.1999); Archer v. State, 851 S.W.2d 157, 164 (Tenn.1993); State v. Galloway, 45 Tenn. (5 Cold.) 326, 336-37 (1868). The writ of err......
  • Phillips v. Johnson, Case No. 3:15-cv-1039
    • United States
    • United States District Courts. 6th Circuit. United States District Court of Middle District of Tennessee
    • 27 Septiembre 2017
    ...the court lacked jurisdiction or authority to render the judgment or because the defendant's sentence is expired." Taylor v. State, 995 S.W. 2d 78, 83 (Tenn. 1999); State v. McConnell, 12 S.W. 3d 795, 797. Page 6The trial court lost jurisdiction by violating his procedural and substantive c......
  • Hickman v. State
    • United States
    • Supreme Court of Tennessee
    • 22 Septiembre 2004
    ...are available to collaterally attack a final judgment in a criminal case — habeas corpus and post-conviction petitions. Taylor v. State, 995 S.W.2d 78, 83 (Tenn.1999); Potts v. State, 833 S.W.2d 60, 62 (Tenn.1992). The right to seek habeas corpus relief is guaranteed by article I, section 1......
  • Turner v. Turner
    • United States
    • Court of Appeals of Tennessee
    • 7 Julio 2014
    ...or the judgment itself was outside of the pleadings. Gentry v. Gentry, 924 S.W.2d 678, 680 (Tenn. 1996); see also Taylor v. State, 995 S.W.2d 78, 83 (Tenn.1999) (holding that an order or decree is only void on its face if "the [issuing] court lacked jurisdiction or authority to render the j......
  • Request a trial to view additional results

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT