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IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OF TENNESSEE AT JACKSON
Assigned on Briefs February 5, 2002 DALE WESLEY BELL v. STATE OF TENNESSEE
Direct Appeal from the Circuit Court for McNairy County No. 1189 Jon Kerry Blackwood, Judge

No. W2001-02509-CCA-R3-PC - Filed April 4, 2002

The Appellant, Dale Wesley Bell, appeals from the dismissal of his petition for post-conviction relief. In 1999, Bell pled guilty to nine counts of aggravated burglary and one count of theft in excess of $10,000. Bell, a Range III Persistent Offender, received an effective fifteen-year sentence to be served in the Department of Correction. On appeal, Bell challenges the validity of his guilty plea upon grounds of: (1) voluntariness and (2) ineffective assistance of counsel. After review, we affirm the judgment of the McNairy County Circuit Court dismissing the petition. Tenn. R. App. P. 3; Judgment of the Circuit Court Affirmed. DAVID G. HAYES, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which DAVID H. WELLES and ROBERT W. WEDEMEYER , JJ., joined. William Ken Seaton, Selmer, Tennessee, for the Appellant, Dale Wesley Bell. Paul G. Summers, Attorney General and Reporter; Michael Moore, Solicitor General; Braden H. Boucek, Assistant Attorney General; Elizabeth T. Rice, District Attorney General; and Jerry W. Norwood, Assistant District Attorney General, for the Appellee, State of Tennessee.

OPINION Factual Background Following a series of residential burglaries in McNairy County in December of 1998, the Appellant was eventually apprehended and charged with sixteen offenses: eleven counts of aggravated burglary, class D felony theft, class C felony theft, evading arrest, possession of a Schedule III controlled substance, and possession of a Schedule IV controlled substance. On two separate occasions, the Appellant was able to elude law enforcement officers in multi-county pursuits, after sheriff's department deputies were dispatched to investigate reports of a suspicious

person at two residences in the county. The Appellant was identified on both occasions as the driver of the stolen vehicles, before the vehicles were wrecked in the chase and abandoned. Following abandonment of the wrecked vehicle in the second chase, the Appellant was captured after attempting escape in another stolen vehicle. During an inventory of the first wrecked vehicle, items taken during four aggravated burglaries were found. Inventory of the second wrecked vehicle again revealed items taken during additional burglaries. In view of the Appellant's indigency status, the public defender's office was appointed to represent the Appellant. On the scheduled morning of trial, the Appellant requested discharge of his appointed counsel. This request was granted and the Appellant was permitted to proceed pro se. After the jury was selected, the Appellant, following plea negotiations, entered guilty pleas to nine counts of aggravated burglary and one count of class C felony theft, and received, under the terms of the plea agreement, an effective fifteen-year sentence. ANALYSIS In order to succeed on a post-conviction claim, the Appellant bears the burden of showing by clear and convincing evidence, the allegations set forth in his petition. Tenn. Code Ann.

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