James Kenard Parish v. State of Mississippi
203 So. 3d 718
| Miss. Ct. App. | 2016Background
- James Kenard Parish pleaded guilty on December 3, 2007 to possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell and was sentenced as a habitual offender to 20 years.
- Parish had a long prior felony history (including a 1992 drug-related felony), prompting the State to seek habitual-offender status under Miss. Code Ann. § 99-19-81.
- Parish filed a pro se motion for post-conviction collateral relief (PCCR) on December 22, 2014, more than seven years after his plea.
- The Harrison County Circuit Court denied the PCCR motion as time-barred under the UPCCRA three-year limitation for guilty pleas.
- Parish asserted his plea was involuntary (breached plea deal and bad advice), his indictment was defective and evidence insufficient, he received ineffective assistance of counsel, and his sentence was illegal.
- The Court of Appeals affirmed, finding the PCCR untimely, no applicable statutory exception, no fundamental-rights deprivation shown, and no merit to Parish’s substantive claims.
Issues
| Issue | Plaintiff's Argument | Defendant's Argument | Held |
|---|---|---|---|
| Voluntariness of guilty plea | Parish: plea involuntary due to breached plea bargain and counsel's erroneous advice; record lacks plea colloquy | State: Parish signed guilty-plea petition acknowledging court not bound by plea recommendation; sentencing order reflects colloquy and voluntary plea | Court: Plea was knowing and voluntary; claim without merit and does not overcome time bar |
| Defective indictment / insufficient evidence | Parish: indictment failed to identify recipient and evidence did not show intent to distribute | State: guilty plea waives defects except missing an essential element; recipient identity not an element; Parish did not raise sufficiency in PCCR | Court: Recipient identity is not an essential element; sufficiency claim procedurally barred on appeal; no merit considered |
| Ineffective assistance of counsel | Parish: counsel promised a ten-year sentence and misadvised him, so he would have gone to trial but for counsel's errors | State: ineffective-assistance claims are subject to UPCCRA time bars; Parish offered only his affidavit and failed to meet Strickland standard | Court: Claim time-barred; on merits Parish failed to show deficient performance or prejudice required to overturn plea |
| Illegal sentence / breach of plea deal | Parish: believed he would receive ten years; twenty-year habitual-offender sentence violated due process | State: trial court not bound by plea recommendation; habitual-offender statute authorized maximum sentence | Court: Sentence lawful (within statutory maximum); trial court did not abuse discretion; claim without merit |
Key Cases Cited
- Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984) (two-part standard for ineffective assistance of counsel)
- Rowland v. State, 42 So. 3d 503 (Miss. 2010) (errors affecting fundamental constitutional rights may excuse procedural bars)
- Joiner v. State, 61 So. 3d 156 (Miss. Ct. App. 2011) (guilty plea waives indictment defects except missing essential elements)
- Vielee v. State, 653 So. 2d 920 (Miss. 1995) (post-conviction ineffective-assistance claims unsupported by sole affidavit are insufficient)
- Walton v. State, 16 So. 3d 66 (Miss. Ct. App. 2009) (burden on defendant to prove plea involuntary)
- Burrough v. State, 9 So. 3d 368 (Miss. 2009) (standards for determining voluntariness of plea and sufficiency by inference)
- Moore v. State, 152 So. 3d 1208 (Miss. Ct. App. 2014) (illegal-sentence claims implicate fundamental rights that may overcome time bars)
- Graham v. State, 151 So. 3d 242 (Miss. Ct. App. 2014) (statutory exceptions to UPCCRA three-year limitation)