08/30/2017

IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OF TENNESSEE

AT NASHVILLE

Assigned on Briefs August 8, 2017

STEVEN PADGETT KING v. STATE OF TENNESSEE

Appeal from the Circuit Court for Montgomery County

No. 40300049 Jill Bartee Ayers, Judge

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No. M2017-00058-CCA-R3-PC

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The petitioner, Steven Padgett King, appeals the dismissal of his post-conviction petition, 

arguing the post-conviction court erred in dismissing the petition as time-barred. 

Following our review, we agree with the petitioner and reverse the order of the postconviction court dismissing the petition as untimely.

Tenn. R. App. P. 3 Appeal as of Right; Judgment of the Circuit Court Reversed;

Case Remanded

J. ROSS DYER, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which ROBERT W. WEDEMEYER

and D. KELLY THOMAS, JR., JJ., joined.

Steven Padgett King, Tiptonville, Tennessee, Pro Se.

Herbert H. Slatery III, Attorney General and Reporter; Jeffrey D. Zentner, Assistant 

Attorney General; John W. Carney, District Attorney General; and Arthur Bieber, 

Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.

OPINION

FACTS

For crimes committed on November 17, 2002, the petitioner pled guilty to the

Class A felonies of especially aggravated kidnapping and aggravated rape. Tenn. Code 

Ann. §§ 39-13-305(a); -502. The petitioner received twenty-year sentences for each 

conviction to be served consecutively at 100% release eligibility. The original judgments 

were entered on January 15, 2004. At the time of entry, however, the judgment forms did 

not reflect the statutorily imposed community supervision for life provision that attaches

to convictions for aggravated rape. Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 39-13-502; -524. Consequently, 

on August 25, 2016, the trial court entered an order amending the petitioner’s judgment 
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forms to reflect the imposition of community supervision for life after the expiration of 

his sentences.

1

 After the judgment forms were amended, the petitioner filed a petition for 

post-conviction relief on November 15, 2016. In his petition, the petitioner alleged “his 

[p]lea [a]greement was not knowingly nor intelligently entered because the original 

judgment has now been amended to include [c]ommunity [s]upervision for life, a 

punitive element that he did not agree to when he originally accepted his plea in 2004.” 

The post-conviction court dismissed the petition as time-barred on December 20, 2016, 

and this timely appeal followed.

ANALYSIS

On appeal, the petitioner and the State assert the trial court erred in dismissing the 

petitioner’s post-conviction petition as untimely. The petitioner argues that, because the 

one-year statute of limitations began to run at the time of entry of the amended judgment 

for his aggravated rape conviction, his post-conviction petition was timely. For reasons 

explained below, we agree.

A post-conviction petitioner has one year from “the date of the final action of the 

highest state appellate court to which an appeal is taken” to file a petition for relief. 

Tenn. Code Ann. § 40-30-102(a). “Time is of the essence of the right to file a petition for 

post-conviction relief.” Id. Untimely filing of a post-conviction petition extinguishes a 

petitioner’s post-conviction claims and an untimely petition must be dismissed. Id. 

Upon the entry of an amended judgment, however, the one-year statute of limitations 

period for post-conviction relief is reset. See Michael Garrett v. State, No. M2008-

00046-CCA-R3-HC, 2009 WL 2567730, at *4 (Tenn. Crim. App. Aug. 19, 2009) (citing 

Manny T. Anderson v. State, No. M2002-00641-CCA-R3-PC, 2003 WL 2002092, at *4 

(Tenn. Crim. App. April 30, 2003) (holding the one-year post-conviction limitations 

period runs upon the entry on an amended judgment)).

Pursuant to statute, “a person shall receive a sentence of community supervision 

for life who . . . commits a violation of § 39-13-502.” Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-13-524.

Here, the petitioner pled guilty to aggravated rape pursuant to Tennessee Code Annotated

section 39-13-502. Thus, the community supervision for life sentence attached to his 

conviction for aggravated rape. Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 39-13-502; -524. The trial court 

amended the petitioner’s judgments to reflect the community supervision for life sentence 

 

1Though absent from the record on appeal, the petitioner filed a pro se Rule 36.1 motion to

correct an illegal sentence wherein he alleged he did not agree to be sentenced to community supervision 

for life pursuant to Tennessee Code Annotated section 39-13-524. The trial court dismissed the 

petitioner’s motion, pursuant to Derrick Brandon Bush v. State, 428 S.W.3d 1 (Tenn. 2014), and entered 

an order amending the judgment forms to reflect the statutory requirement of community supervision for 

life. Additionally, we note, the amended judgment forms are not included in the record on appeal.
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on August 25, 2016, thus triggering the one-year statute of limitations for his postconviction claims. Garrett, No. M2008-00046-CCA-R3-HC, 2009 WL 2567730, at *4; 

Anderson, No. M2002-00641-CCA-R3-PC, 2003 WL 2002092, at *4. Accordingly, the 

petitioner had until August 25, 2017, to file a petition for post-conviction relief. The 

record reflects the petitioner filed his petition for post-conviction relief on November 15, 

2016, less than one year after the amended judgments were entered. Therefore, the 

petition was timely. 

CONCLUSION

Based upon the foregoing authorities and reasoning, we reverse the postconviction court’s denial of the petition for post-conviction relief and remand for the 

post-conviction petition to be treated as timely.

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 J. ROSS DYER, JUDGE