Joiner v. State
| Docket Number: | 2009-CT-00222-SCT Linked Case(s): 2009-CA-00222-COA ; 2009-CA-00222-COA ; 2009-CT-00222-SCT |
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| Supreme Court: | Opinion Link Opinion Date: 05-19-2011 Opinion Author: Lamar, J. Holding: Affirmed. |
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| Additional Case Information: |
Topic: Post-conviction relief - Sufficiency of indictment - Habitual offender status Judge(s) Concurring: Waller, C.J., Carlson and Dickinson, P.JJ., Randolph and Pierce, JJ. Non Participating Judge(s): King, J. Dissenting Author : Chandler, J. With Separate Written Opinion Dissent Joined By : King, J. Procedural History: PCR Nature of the Case: PCR |
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| Trial Court: |
Date of Trial Judgment: 01-15-2009 Appealed from: Lafayette County Circuit Court Judge: Andrew K. Howorth Disposition: The trial judge summarily denied Joiner's petitions. Case Number: LO8-357 |
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| Party Name: | Attorney Name: | Brief(s) Available: | ||
| Appellant: | Albert Joiner, Jr. |
JAMES D. MINOR |
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| Appellee: | State of Mississippi | OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL: LISA L. BLOUNT | ||
Synopsis provided by:  If you are interested in subscribing to the weekly synopses of all Mississippi Supreme Court and Court of Appeals hand downs please contact Tammy Upton in the MLI Press office. |
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| Topic: | Post-conviction relief - Sufficiency of indictment - Habitual offender status |
| Summary of the Facts: | Albert Joiner pled guilty to felony flight and strong-armed robbery and was sentenced to a total of nineteen years as a section 99-19-81 habitual offender. Joiner filed a motion for post-conviction relief which was denied. He appealed, and the Court of Appeals affirmed. The Supreme Court granted certiorari. |
| Summary of Opinion Analysis: | Joiner argues that his sentence as a habitual offender for felony flight is invalid because the indictment failed to charge him as a habitual offender. Joiner is correct that a defendant has a right to be indicted as a habitual offender before he properly may be convicted and sentenced as a habitual offender. But the right to be indicted as a habitual offender is a right that can be waived, along with many others, by a knowing and voluntary guilty plea. Because Joiner’s knowing and voluntary guilty plea waived his right to contest this deficiency in the indictment, the trial court did not err in denying his petition for post-conviction relief. It is well-settled that a knowing and voluntary guilty plea waives certain constitutional rights, among them the privilege against self-incrimination, the right to confront and cross-examine the State’s witnesses, the right to a jury trial, and the right to have the State prove each element of the offense beyond a reasonable doubt. A guilty plea does not waive an indictment’s failure to charge an essential element of the crime, and it does not waive lack of subject matter jurisdiction, but neither of these exceptions is at issue here. |
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