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IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OF TENNESSEE AT JACKSON
Assigned on Briefs June 2, 2004 RANDALL WATSON v. STATE OF TENNESSEE
Direct Appeal from the Criminal Court for Shelby County No. F-27209 Bernie Weinman, Judge

No. W2003-02399-CCA-R3-HC - Filed July 20, 2004

The Defendant, Randall Watson, pled guilty to second degree murder. He subsequently filed a petition for habeas corpus relief. After considering the Defendant's petition as presented and also as a petition for post-conviction relief, the trial court dismissed the Defendant's pleading. This appeal followed. We affirm the trial court's judgment. Tenn. R. App. P. 3 Appeal as of Right; Judgment of the Criminal Court Affirmed DAVID H. WELLES, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which DAVID G. HAYES and ROBERT W. WEDEMEYER, JJ., joined. Brett Stein, Memphis, Tennessee, for the appellant, Randall Watson. Paul G. Summers, Attorney General and Reporter; Thomas E. Williams, III, Assistant Attorney General; William L. Gibbons, District Attorney General; and Emily Campbell, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee. OPINION The Defendant was indicted for first degree premeditated murder in July 1994 for a killing he committed earlier that year. The Defendant subsequently pled guilty to second degree murder in exchange for an agreed Range III sentence of fifty years. Judgment was entered on October 7, 1996.

On February 14, 2003, the Defendant filed a petition for habeas corpus relief alleging that his sentence was illegal and the judgment against him therefore void. The State responded that the Defendant's sentence was not illegal and that the petition was further time-barred. A brief hearing was held, after which the trial court dismissed the Defendant's petition on the basis that it was both without merit and barred by the statute of limitations. This direct appeal followed.

The Defendant's claim that he is being illegally restrained due to an illegal sentence is without merit. See generally Bland v. Dukes, 97 S.W.3d 133 (Tenn. Crim. App. 2002). Although the Defendant claims that he does not have sufficient prior felony convictions to qualify for a Range III sentence, a defendant may legally agree to be sentenced within a particular range pursuant to a negotiated plea agreement, even if he or she would not otherwise fall within that sentencing range. See Hicks v. State, 945 S.W.2d 706, 708 (Tenn. 1997); State v. Mahler, 735 S.W.2d 226, 228 (Tenn. 1987). In this case, the Defendant agreed to a fifty year sentence for a Class A felony. The full sentencing range for a Class A felony is fifteen to sixty years. See Tenn. Code Ann.

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