FILED

October 10, 1997

Cecil Crowson, Jr.

Appellate C ourt Clerk

IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OF TENNESSEE

AT KNOXVILLE

JULY SESSION, 1997

THOMAS C. MANEY, JR., ) C.C.A. NO. 03C01-9612-CR-00470

)

Appellant, )

)

) BRADLEY COUNTY

VS. )

) HON. R. STEVE BEBB

STATE OF TENNESSEE, ) JUDGE

)

Appellee. ) (Post-Conviction)

ON APPEAL FROM THE JUDGMENT OF THE

CRIMINAL COURT OF BRADLEY COUNTY

FOR THE APPELLANT: FOR THE APPELLEE:

THOMAS C. MANEY, JR., JOHN KNOX WALKUP

Pro Se Attorney General and Reporter

Register Number 216056

Route 1, Box 330

Tiptonville, TN 38079-9775 MARVIN E. CLEMENTS, JR.

Assistant Attorney General

425 5th Avenue North

Nashville, TN 37243

JERRY N. ESTES

District Attorney General

RANDY G. ROGERS

Assistant District Attorney General

204 North Jackson

Athens, TN 37303

OPINION FILED ________________________

REVERSED AND REMANDED

DAVID H. WELLES, JUDGE
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OPINION

The Defendant appeals the trial court’s dismissal of his petition for postconviction relief. The single issue presented for our review is whether the trial

court erred in its determination that the petition was barred by the statute of

limitations. We conclude that the petition is not time-barred. We therefore

reverse the judgment of the trial court and remand this case for further

proceedings.

From this record, it appears that on February 12, 1993, the Defendant was

convicted on his pleas of guilty to one count of felony possession of cocaine and

one count of felony possession of marijuana. He received an effective sentence

of eight years. There was no appeal from his conviction or sentences. The postconviction relief petition under consideration herein, apparently the Defendant’s

first petition, was filed on May 9, 1996. The trial court dismissed the petition

based on the statute of limitations. It is from the order of the trial court dismissing

the petition that the Defendant appeals.

At the time the Defendant’s convictions became final, the statute of

limitations applicable to post-conviction proceedings was three years. Tenn.

Code Ann. § 40-30-102 (repealed 1995). It is clear that the petition in the case

sub judice was filed after the expiration of the three-year statute of limitations.

The new Post-Conviction Procedure Act is applicable to this petition and

all petitions filed after May 10, 1995. See Tenn. Code Ann. § 40-30-201 et seq.
1W e note that in at least one prior case in this Court, the State conceded that the statute of 

limitations did not bar consideration of a petition filed under the same factual circumstances as the

one in the case sub judice. See Betsy Ja ne Pen dergras t v. State, C.C.A. No. 01C01-9607-CC00289, Rutherford Co unty (Tenn. Crim. App., Nash ville, May 16, 1997).

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(Supp. 1996). This Act repealed the three-year statute of limitations and enacted

in its place a one-year statute of limitations. On the effective date of this Act,

same being May 10, 1995, the repealed three-year statute of limitations had not

yet run on the petitioner’s right to file a petition for post-conviction relief. The

1995 Act provides, in pertinent part, that “notwithstanding any other provision of

this act to the contrary, any person having a ground for relief recognized under

this act shall have at least one (1) year from the effective date of this act to file

a petition or a motion to reopen a petition under this act.” 1995 Tenn. Pub. Acts

ch. 207, § 3.

Because it is clear that the three-year statute of limitations had not run on

this Defendant at the time the legislature repealed that statute and replaced it

with a one-year statute, we believe that the provision quoted above provided this

Defendant one year from the effective date of the Act, or until May 10, 1996, to

file his petition for post-conviction relief. Therefore, the petition herein was timely

filed on May 9, 1996, and should have been considered by the trial court on the

merits.1

The judgment of the trial court dismissing this petition is reversed, and this

case is remanded to the trial court for further proceedings.
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_________________________________

DAVID H. WELLES, JUDGE

CONCUR:

___________________________________

THOMAS T. WOODALL, JUDGE

___________________________________

JOHN K. BYERS, SENIOR JUDGE