Lonnie Ulmer a/k/a Lonnie E. Ulmer Jr. v. State of Mississippi, 292 So.3d 611

Ulmer pled guilty in 2014 to second-degree murder after the State reduced an original first-/deliberate-design murder charge; sentence imposed was 40 years with 20 years to serve, remainder suspended, plus 5 years post-release supervision.
Before entering the plea, Ulmer’s appointed counsel, Candance Rickman, told him he would be eligible for "trusty-earned time" (30 days credit for every 30 days served), causing Ulmer to believe he would effectively serve only half the sentence.
After incarceration, Ulmer learned second-degree murder was not eligible for trusty-earned time and filed a PCR motion (Jan. 2017) alleging his plea was involuntary and counsel was ineffective; he submitted affidavits from counsel, his mother, and a personal statement.
At an evidentiary hearing counsel admitted she had misadvised Ulmer and testified she did not believe he would have pled if told he would serve the sentence day for day.
The circuit court denied PCR relief, finding Ulmer’s plea colloquy and plea petition belied his claims; the Court of Appeals reversed, holding the plea was involuntary due to counsel’s erroneous advice, vacated the guilty plea, and remanded.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Voluntariness of guilty plea (misinformation about trusty-earned time)	Ulmer: counsel told him he would get trusty-earned time; he relied on that and would not have pled otherwise	State/Circuit Ct: plea colloquy and written plea petition show no promise; Ulmer denied any promises at plea hearing	Reversed: plea was not knowing/voluntary because counsel’s erroneous advice induced the plea; plea vacated and case remanded
Ineffective assistance of counsel (in context of guilty plea)	Ulmer: counsel’s erroneous advice proximately caused the guilty plea	State: circuit court denied PCR on credibility and record-based grounds; appellate court found voluntariness dispositive and did not separately rule	Appellate court treated the misadvice as dispositive of voluntariness and did not reach separate ineffective-assistance analysis (relief granted on voluntariness)
Sufficiency of factual basis for plea	Ulmer: alleged no factual basis for second-degree murder plea	State: circuit court addressed this in its clarifying order and found against Ulmer	Court of Appeals declined to address because voluntariness dispositive

Tiller v. State, 440 So. 2d 1001 (Miss. 1983) (erroneous advice about earned/good time can vitiate a guilty plea)
Fairley v. State, 834 So. 2d 704 (Miss. 2003) (plea involuntary if defendant affirmatively misinformed re: parole and pleads in reliance)
Washington v. State, 620 So. 2d 966 (Miss. 1993) (misinformation about parole/early release can render plea involuntary)
Magee v. State, 270 So. 3d 225 (Miss. Ct. App. 2018) (in guilty-plea context, counsel’s errors must have proximately caused the plea)
Stewart v. State, 845 So. 2d 744 (Miss. Ct. App. 2003) (defendant alleging reliance on counsel’s faulty advice is entitled to evidentiary hearing)
Johns v. State, 926 So. 2d 188 (Miss. 2006) (standard of review for PCR evidentiary hearing findings)
Sylvester v. State, 113 So. 3d 618 (Miss. Ct. App. 2013) (trusty/earned time analogous to parole eligibility; MDOC discretion)
Thomas v. State, 881 So. 2d 912 (Miss. Ct. App. 2004) (court may dismiss PCR where voluntariness inquiry corrected erroneous advice)
Gable v. State, 748 So. 2d 703 (Miss. 1999) (no evidentiary hearing required when petitioner’s affidavit is contradicted by unimpeachable record documents)
Ross v. State, 584 So. 2d 777 (Miss. 1991) (MDOC discretion in awarding earned time)