Cedric Brooks v. State of Mississippi
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IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI
NO. 2003-CP-01215-COA
CEDRIC BROOKS
APPELLANT
v.
STATE OF MISSISSIPPI
DATE OF JUDGMENT:
TRIAL JUDGE:
COURT FROM WHICH APPEALED:
ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT:
ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEE:
NATURE OF THE CASE:
TRIAL COURT DISPOSITION:
DISPOSITION:
MOTION FOR REHEARING FILED:
MANDATE ISSUED:
APPELLEE
3/14/2003
HON. RICHARD A. SMITH
WASHINGTON COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT
CEDRIC BROOKS (PRO SE)
OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
BY: JOHN R. HENRY
CIVIL - POST- CONVICTION RELIEF
APPELLANT’S MOTION FOR POSTCONVICTION RELIEF WAS DENIED.
AFFIRMED - 06/07/2005
BEFORE BRIDGES, P.J., CHANDLER AND ISHEE, JJ.
BRIDGES, P.J., FOR THE COURT:
¶1.
Accused of two counts of selling cocaine, Cedric Brooks pled guilty to both. On the first count,
the Washington County Circuit Court sentenced Brooks to serve thirty years in the custody of the
Mississippi Department of Corrections. The circuit court suspended ten years of that sentence, leaving
twenty to serve. As for the second count, the circuit court sentenced Brooks to an additional thirty year
sentence, but suspended six years, leaving twenty-four years to serve. The circuit court set the sentences
to run concurrently. Accordingly, Brooks is sentenced to twenty-four years in the custody of the MDOC.
¶2.
Brooks filed a pro se motion for post-conviction collateral relief. Within his motion, Brooks
claimed that his sentence was illegal because he had been previously convicted of a felony and that it was
improper for the circuit court to have suspended the execution of any part of his sentence for the sale of
a controlled substance. In other words, Brooks lamented that the circuit court had no basis to suspend any
portion of his sentence. On March 14, 2003, the circuit court denied Brooks’s motion and noted that
Brooks avoided the potential of sentencing as a habitual offender when Brooks pled guilty. Further, the
court ruled that the sentence imposed upon Brooks was within the statutory guidelines.
¶3.
Aggrieved, Brooks filed a notice of appeal on June 5, 2003. Brooks cites the following instance
of error:
I.
PETITIONER[‘]S PLEA OF GUILTY, AND THE SENTENCE IMPOSED, IS
[CONSTITUTIONALLY] INVALID WHERE THE PLEA IS INVOLUNTARY SINCE IT
WAS MOTIVATED BY, AND RESTS UPON AN AGREEMENT FOR AN ILLEGAL
SENTENCE.
Finding no error, we affirm.
STANDARD OF REVIEW
¶4.
“In reviewing the trial court’s decision to deny a defendant’s petition for post-conviction relief, we
do not disturb the trial court’s findings of fact unless clearly erroneous; however, we apply the de novo
standard to questions of law.” Harris v. State, 757 So.2d 195, 197 (¶8) (Miss. 2000) (citations omitted).
ANALYSIS
¶5.
Brooks’s appeal is time barred. The circuit court denied Brooks’s motion for post-conviction
collateral relief on March 14, 2003. Brooks had thirty days after March 14, 2003 to file a notice of appeal.
M.R.A.P. 4. Brooks filed his notice of appeal on June 13, 2003 - nearly three months after the circuit
court’s denial of his motion. Accordingly, Brooks’s appeal is out-of-time.
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¶6.
Assuming arguendo that Brooks’s appeal is not out-of-time, this Court is not inclined to grant his
motion for post-conviction collateral relief. Brooks’s underlying assertion is that the circuit court lacked
authority to suspend any portion of his two concurrent thirty-year sentences. If we accept Brooks’s
argument, then Brooks would serve thirty years, instead of twenty-four. It seems counterintuitive for
Brooks to claim that the circuit court’s lenience caused him to suffer prejudice. Perhaps Brooks would
prefer to serve thirty years, instead of twenty-four. As facetious as this sounds, this Court is not attempting
to make light of Brooks’s claim.
¶7.
This Court addressed a similar scenario in Graves v. State, 822 So.2d 1089 (Miss.Ct.App.
2002). In Graves, this Court stated:
[A] defendant should not be allowed to reap the benefits of an illegal sentence, which is
lighter than what the legal sentence would have been, and then turn around and attack the
legality of the illegal, lighter sentence when it serves his interest to do so. Allowing such
actions would reap [sic] havoc upon the criminal justice system in this state. For example,
all subsequent convictions and sentences of that defendant which are reliant upon the
conviction concomitant with the illegal sentence would have to be set aside. This would
result in a number of enhanced and habitual offender sentences being set aside for the very
offender who had already enjoyed greater leniency than the law allows. Likewise, the State
should not be allowed to engage in a plea bargain encompassing a recommendation for a
sentence more lenient than what the law permits, reap the benefit of not having to go to trial
and later seek to have the illegal, lighter sentence set aside while maintaining the validity of
the attendant conviction. We can perceive no constitutional imperative or compelling state
interest which would require or permit either scenario.
Id. at (¶11).
¶8.
Brooks’s puzzling logic notwithstanding, we are not inclined to apply any merit to Brooks’s curious
assertions. Even if Brooks could show that the lower court committed error in suspending portions of his
sentence, any such error in sentencing is harmless since it is to Brooks’s benefit. Id. at (¶8). Accordingly,
this Court finds no merit in Brooks’s assertion.
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¶9.
THE JUDGMENT OF THE WASHINGTON COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT DENYING
POST-CONVICTION RELIEF IS AFFIRMED. ALL COSTS OF THIS APPEAL ARE
ASSESSED TO WASHINGTON COUNTY.
KING, C.J., LEE, P.J., IRVING, MYERS, CHANDLER, GRIFFIS, BARNES AND
ISHEE, JJ., CONCUR.
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