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Webb v. State5/3/2005
The petitioner was initially indicted on October 16, 1997, for two counts of rape, a Class B felony. Several trial dates were set in the years following and continuances were granted for reasons not relevant to this appeal until the petitioner failed to appear in court for his trial date of January 17, 2002, due to alcohol intoxication. The trial was rescheduled for April 26, 2002, but a few days beforehand the petitioner decided to accept the plea agreement offered by the state. He appeared in court to plead guilty on April 24, but the court reporter was not present and the hearing was rescheduled. The petitioner subsequently decided he would rather go to trial, and on April 26, a jury was impaneled. The court adjourned for the weekend, and before court reconvened, the petitioner changed his mind again and decided to plead guilty. He ultimately pled guilty to one count of rape on April 29, 2002, and received a sentence of eight years in the Department of Correction.
At the plea hearing, the parties stipulated the following as a factual basis for the plea: " f the case had gone to trial, the State's proof briefly would have been on or about August 31, 1997, the [petitioner], Mr. Webb, entered an apartment at Ada Ferrell Apartments in Tullahoma, Tennessee, and with force or coercion, did sexually penetrate Ms. Renee Taylor, the victim." Thereafter, the petitioner was sworn and the trial court asked him if his guilty plea was free and voluntary, made without threat or fear, and if he understood the nature of the charges against him. The petitioner responded affirmatively.
The trial court also asked the petitioner if his attorney advised him regarding the elements of the offense charged, the burden of proof required, and the defenses available to him. The petitioner replied, yes. The petitioner acknowledged that his sentence would be eight years in the Department of Correction at eighty-five percent release eligibility and that he understood the rights he would be waiving by pleading guilty, i.e., the right to a speedy trial by jury, the right to confront witnesses, the right to compulsory process, and the right against self-incrimination. He said he understood that he had the right to counsel at all stages of his case and that there would be no further trials or hearings. When asked if he had been promised anything in exchange for his guilty plea, he replied that he was to be "first on the list to get out" of the facility in which he was confined. The trial court responded it had no control over this matter, and the petitioner said he understood. The trial court asked if he had any complaints regarding his attorney's representation of him in this case, and the petitioner said no. The trial court dismissed the petitioner's second count of rape and his indictment for failure to appear.
Thereafter, the petitioner filed a petition alleging that he received the ineffective assistance of counsel and that his guilty plea was involuntarily entered without understanding the nature and consequences of the plea. He alleged that he was mentally incompetent on the day of the plea hearing and that the trial court failed to follow the procedures set forth in Tenn. R. Crim. P. 11 and State v. Mackey, 553 S.W.2d 337 (Tenn. 1997).
At the post-conviction hearing, the petitioner testified that his attorney started representing him approximately one month after he was indicted on the rape charges in October 1997. He said that they discussed the plea bargain and sentence of eight years offered by the state in 1997 but that he refused the offer because he was innocent. He admitted that he failed to appear for his trial date in January 2002 but said that he was not responsible for any
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