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IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OF TENNESSEE AT JACKSON
Assigned on Briefs September 10, 2002 MELVIN JOHNSON v. STATE OF TENNESSEE
Direct Appeal from the Criminal Court for Shelby County No. P-26159 J.C. McLin, Judge

No. W2002-00904-CCA-R3-PC - Filed October 15, 2002

The Shelby County Criminal Court dismissed the petition for post-conviction relief filed by the petitioner, Melvin Johnson, as untimely under the one-year statute of limitations. In this appeal, the sole issue before this court is whether the petitioner's allegation that he was housed in a therapeutic community with limited access to legal information tolls the statute of limitations. Upon review of the record, we affirm the judgment of the trial court. Tenn. R. App. P. 3 Appeal as of Right; Judgment of the Criminal Court Affirmed JOE G. RILEY, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which JOSEPH M. TIPTON and DAVID G. HAYES, JJ., joined. James E. Thomas, Memphis, Tennessee, for the appellant, Melvin Johnson. Paul G. Summers, Attorney General and Reporter; P. Robin Dixon, Jr., Assistant Attorney General; William L. Gibbons, District Attorney General; and Raymond J. Lepone, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.

OPINION On October 20, 2000, the petitioner, Melvin Johnson, pled guilty to attempted first degree murder and was sentenced to fifteen years in the Department of Correction. On February 15, 2002, the petitioner, acting pro se, filed a petition for post-conviction relief, alleging ineffective assistance of counsel and an involuntary guilty plea. He noted in his petition that he was filing beyond the oneyear statute of limitations because he was housed in a "therapeutic community" with "limited access to legal assistance and no law books." The trial court dismissed the petition as untimely under the one-year statute of limitations. This appeal followed. The petitioner contends that due to his segregation from the general prison population, he did not have access to adequate legal materials and adequate legal assistance, thus violating his

constitutional right to access to the courts. The petitioner further contends the one-year statute of limitations should be tolled as a result. We disagree. Under the current Post-Conviction Procedure Act, all petitions must be filed within one (1) year of the date of the final action of the highest state appellate court to which an appeal is taken or, if no appeal is taken, within one (1) year of the date on which the judgment became final, or consideration of such petition shall be barred. Tenn. Code Ann.

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