Watts v. Lucas, 52338
| Decision Date | 04 March 1981 |
| Docket Number | No. 52338,52338 |
| Citation | 394 So.2d 903 |
| Parties | Jerrie WATTS v. Eddie LUCAS (Warden, Mississippi State Penitentiary), State of Mississippi. |
| Court | Mississippi Supreme Court |
Jerrie Watts, pro se.
Bill Allain, Atty. Gen. by Catherine Walker Underwood, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., Jackson, for appellee.
Before PATTERSON, P. J., and SUGG and WALKER, JJ.
WALKER, Justice, for the Court:
This is an appeal from an order denying a writ of habeas corpus.
Jerrie Watts filed, pro se, a pleading styled "Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus" on May 3, 1980, in the Circuit Court of Pike County. He alleged that during the March 1968 Term of the Circuit Court of Pike County he was tried and convicted on charges of murder, rape and kidnapping, for which crimes he was sentenced to serve three separate life sentences. He further alleged that the sentences imposed were to run concurrently, but that the records at the Mississippi State Penitentiary show that the sentences are to run consecutively.
The circuit judge was of the opinion that the petition showed no cause for relief on its face and entered an order denying the writ of habeas corpus. Hence, this appeal.
At the outset we note that courts must look to the substance of any petition filed seeking a post-conviction remedy rather than considering such petition by its title. Young v. State, 264 So.2d 821 (Miss.1972). Since the petitioner is not seeking immediate release, but only a judicial determination of when he is eligible to be considered for parole, we consider his pleading as a petition to clarify his sentence.
Mississippi Code Annotated section 99-19-21 (1972) provides:
When a person is sentenced to imprisonment on two or more convictions, the imprisonment on the second, or each subsequent conviction, shall commence at the termination of the imprisonment for the preceding conviction, and the sentence ought to so specify. Provided, however, that when a person is convicted at the same term of a circuit or county court of more than one offense, the judge of such court may impose sentences on such convictions to run concurrently.
All orders imposing sentences heretofore to run concurrently, if so ordered, are hereby validated and confirmed. (Emphasis added).
In Maycock v. Reed, 328 So.2d 349 (Miss.1976), we construed this statute to mean that if more than one sentence is imposed at the same term of court the sentences are to run consecutively, unless the judge in his discretion orders the sentences to run concurrently. Where the judge does not specify whether the sentences are to run...
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...possibly inapt denomination. We will treat Sanders' application as one made under Rule 8.07. See Edwards v. Thigpen, supra, Watts v. Lucas, 394 So.2d 903 (Miss.1981); Nelson v. Tullos; State v. Nicholson, supra; Young v. State, 264 So.2d 821 (Miss.1972); Allred v. State, supra. Cf. Haines v......
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...raising questions such as that presented here regarding the term or duration of his or her confinement. See, e.g., Watts v. Lucas, 394 So.2d 903 (Miss.1981); Hill v. State, 388 So.2d 143, 146 (Miss.1980); Davis v. State, 429 So.2d 262 (Miss. No. 54,115 decided April 6, 1983, not yet reporte......
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...the voluntariness of his plea or the duration of his confinement. See, e.g., Hill v. State, 388 So.2d 143, 146 (Miss.1980); Watts v. Lucas, 394 So.2d 903 (Miss.1981); Ball v. State, 437 So.2d 423, 425 (Miss.1983). Rule 8.07 of the Uniform Criminal Rules of Circuit Court Practice provides a ......
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...the voluntariness of his plea or the duration of his confinement. See, e.g., Hill v. State, 388 So.2d 143, 146 (Miss.1980); Watts v. Lucas, 394 So.2d 903 (Miss.1981); Ball v. State, 437 So.2d 423, 425 (Miss.1983). Rule 8.07 of the Uniform Criminal Rules of Circuit Court Practice provides a ......