Preview:

IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OF TENNESSEE AT NASHVILLE
Assigned on Briefs October 24, 2007 JOSE RAMIREZ v. STATE OF TENNESSEE
Direct Appeal from the Criminal Court for Wilson County No. 03-1190 J. O. Bond, Judge

No. M2007-00942-CCA-R3-PC - Filed December 5, 2007

The petitioner, Jose Ramirez, pled guilty to aggravated assault and the trial court, pursuant to a plea agreement, sentenced him to a three-year sentence to be served on supervised probation. The court dismissed the petition, finding that the petitioner had filed his petition outside the one-year statute of limitations period. After review, we affirm the judgment of the post-conviction court. Tenn. R. App. P. 3 Appeal as of Right; Judgment of the Criminal Court Affirmed J.C. MCLIN , J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which JOSEPH M. TIPTON , P.J., and ROBERT W. WEDEMEYER , J., joined. Vanessa Saenz, Nashville, Tennessee, for the appellant, Jose Ramirez. Robert E. Cooper, Jr., Attorney General and Reporter; Cameron L. Hyder, Assistant Attorney General; Tom P. Thompson, Jr., District Attorney General; and Robert N. Hibbett, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee. OPINION On July 28, 2004, the petitioner pled guilty to aggravated assault pursuant to a plea agreement and received a three-year sentence to be served on supervised probation. On April 2, 2007, the petitioner filed a petition for post-conviction relief, alleging ineffectiveness of counsel because his attorney failed to adequately investigate and prepare for trial and misinformed him that if he pled guilty he would not be deported. The post-conviction court found that the statute of limitations for filing a petition for post-conviction relief had expired and that the petitioner failed to state a colorable claim for tolling the limitations period. The petitioner appealed. In his appellate brief, the petitioner argues that the post-conviction court erred in dismissing his petition for post-conviction relief. Essentially, he alleges that his attorney gave him faulty advice regarding the fact that he would not be deported if he pled guilty to aggravated assault. He relied on this advice and pled guilty and did not receive notice that he would be deported until after the

statute of limitations had expired. Therefore, he argues that due process considerations require that he be afforded an opportunity to be heard on his ineffective assistance of counsel claim. Pursuant to Tennessee Code Annotated section 40-30-102, a petition for post-conviction relief must be filed within one year of the final action of the highest state appellate court to which an appeal is taken, or, if no appeal is taken, within one year of the date on which the judgment became final, or consideration of the petition is barred. Tenn. Code Ann.

Download RamirezJoseOPN.pdf

Tennessee Law