# FILED
December 9, 1998 Cecil W. Crowson Appellate Cou rt Clerk IN THE COURT OF CRIMI NAL APPEALS OF TENNESSEE

AT NASHVILLE OCTOBER 1998 SESSION

MARTIN R. CRADDOCK, ) ) Appellant, ) No. 01C01-9704-CR-00161

) ) Davidson County v. ) ) Honorable J. Randall Wyatt, Jr., J udge ) RICKY BELL, WARDEN ) (Habeas Corpus) ) Appellee. )
For the Appellant : For the Appellee : Martin R. Craddock, Pro S e John Knox Walkup #243707, R.M.S.I., Unit 6-A- 120 Attorney General of Tennessee 7475 Crockrill Bend Road and Nashville, TN 37209-1010 Karen M. Ya cuzzo Assistant Attorney Gener al of Tennessee 425 Fifth Avenue North Nashville, TN 37243-0493 Victor S. Johnson, III District Attorney General and Lila Statom Assistant District A

ttorney General Washington Square 222 Second Avenue North Nashville, TN 37201-1649

OPINION FILED:____________________
AFFIRMED PURSUANT TO R ULE 20 Joseph M. Tipton Judge2 O P I N I O N
The petitioner, Martin R. Craddock, appeals as of rig ht from the Davidson County Criminal Cour

t’s denial of habeas corpus rel ief. He is presently i n the custody of the Department of Correction serving a Range I sentence of te n years for his conviction of aggrav

ated sexual battery i n 1995. He contends that he recei ved ineffective assistance of counsel and that th e judgment entered against him is void because the indictment for agg ravated sexual battery fails to allege the mens rea for the offense. We affirm the dismissal of the petition.

The petitioner was initi ally charged wi th two counts of rape of a child and one count of aggravated sex ual battery. The petitioner pled guilty to agg ravated sexual battery, and the remaining counts were dismissed. The record reflects that the c ount of the indictment charging aggravated sexual battery alleged that the petitioner “did engage in unlawful sex ual contact” with the v

ictim, a child less than thirteen years of age.

In State v. Milton S. Jones, Jr. , No. 02C01-9503-CR-00061, Shelby County (Tenn. Crim. App. M ar. 7, 1997), applic

. filed (Tenn. May 6, 1997), this court held that inclusion of the w ords “sexual contact”

in an indictment for aggr avated sexual battery necessarily

implies an intentional mens r ea. See also State v. Harold Leon Sutton, Jr. , No. 03C01-9708-CC-00344, Sevier County (Tenn. C rim. App. Mar. 23, 1998), app
. denied (Tenn. Nov. 2, 1998) (hol ding that an indictment all eging unlawful and felonious sexual contact s ufficiently set forth the mens rea for aggravated sexua l battery). As for the defendant’ s claim of ineffective assistan ce of counsel, it is not a proper issue to be raised i n a habeas corpus proceeding. See State v. Archer , 851 S.W.2d 157, 164 (Tenn. 1993).3 After full consideration of the rec ord, the briefs, and the law governing the issues presented, we ar e of the opinion that the record sup ports the trial court’s action, that no error of law ex

ists that would req uire a reversal, and t hat no precedential value would be derived from the r endering of an opinion. Therefore, w e conclude that the judgment of the trial court s hould be affirmed pursuant to Rule 20, Tenn. Ct. Crim. App. R.

Joseph M. Tipton, Judge

CONCUR:

Joe G. Riley, Judge

James Curwood W itt, Jr., Judge