State of Tennessee v. Marcus Boales, W2016-00567-CCA-R3-CD

Marcus Boales pled guilty in 1996 to theft and drug offenses (concurrent terms) and in 2000 to an additional cocaine sale (probation revoked in 2004); by the time of later filings, all sentences had expired.
Boales filed a habeas corpus petition in 2013; the habeas court dismissed for lack of jurisdiction because Boales was in federal custody; this court affirmed in 2014.
On March 4, 2015, Boales filed a Tennessee Rule of Criminal Procedure 36.1 motion to correct an illegal sentence; the trial court appointed counsel and held a hearing but continued the case pending a Tennessee Supreme Court decision about Rule 36.1’s applicability to expired sentences.
The Tennessee Supreme Court decided in State v. Brown that Rule 36.1 does not authorize correction of expired sentences.
The trial court dismissed Boales’s Rule 36.1 motion as stating no colorable claim because his sentences had expired; Boales appealed and the Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument (Boales)	Defendant's Argument (State)	Held
Whether Rule 36.1 authorizes relief for expired sentences	Rule 36.1 relief should be available; law was unsettled when habeas was filed	Rule 36.1 does not apply to expired sentences (per Brown)	Rule 36.1 does not authorize relief for expired sentences; motion dismissed
Whether the habeas petition should have been construed as a Rule 36.1 motion	Habeas petition should be treated as Rule 36.1 given unsettled law and delays	Petition was properly treated as habeas; Rule 36.1 not yet effective and petition not in record	Waived and improper: petition was not part of the appellate record and Rule 36.1 was not yet effective when petition was decided
Procedural default/waiver for not raising conversion argument on direct appeal	Could not obtain relief due to delay and unsettled precedent	Boales failed to raise the conversion argument on direct appeal, waiving it	Issue waived for failure to raise on direct appeal
Challenge to delay caused by continuance while awaiting Brown	Delay prejudiced ability to obtain relief	Boales consented to continuance; cannot now complain	No relief; consented continuance precludes challenge

State v. Brown, 479 S.W.3d 200 (Tenn. 2015) (Rule 36.1 does not authorize correction of expired sentences)
State v. Wooden, 478 S.W.3d 585 (Tenn. 2015) (defines a "colorable claim" under Rule 36.1)
State v. Bennett, 798 S.W.2d 783 (Tenn. Crim. App. 1990) (appellate court may decline review when record is incomplete)
State v. Matthews, 805 S.W.2d 776 (Tenn. Crim. App. 1990) (documents attached to briefs are not part of the appellate record)