1 Rule 10 of the Rules of the Co urt of Appea ls reads as follows: The Court, w ith the con currenc e of all judges partici pating in the case,

may affirm , reverse or modify the act

ions of t he trial court by memorandum opinion when a formal opini

on would have no precedential val

ue. When a case i s d ecided by memorandum opinion it shall be designated “MEMORANDUM OPINIO N, ” shall not be published, and shall

not be cit

ed or reli

ed on for any reason in any unrelated cas e. 

### IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF TENNESSEE

AT NASHVILLE April 2000 Session CHAD BLANKINSHIP v. TENN ESSEE DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTION Appeal from the Chancery Court for Davidson County No. 99-326 Ellen Hobbs Lyle, Chancellor

No. M1999-02381-COA-R3-CV - Filed July 28, 2000

A prisoner filed a

petition to compel th

e Department of C

orrection to esta

blish a mandatory p

arole date for his benefit. The trial court dismissed the petition for failure t o st ate a claim upon which relief can be gr

anted. We affir

m the trial court. Tenn. R. App. P. 3 Appeal as of Right; Judgment of the Chancery Court Affirmed and Remanded B EN H. C ANTRELL , P.J., M.S., delivered th e opinion of the co

urt, in which W ILLIAM C. K OCH , J R . and W ILLIAM B. C AIN , JJ., joined. Chad Blankinship, Clifton, Tennessee, Pro Se. Paul G. Summers, Attorney General and Reporter;Michael E. Moore, Solicitor General; and Stephanie R. Reevers, Senior Counsel, for the appellee, State of Tennessee. MEMORANDUM OPIN ION 1 I. Chad Blanki nship, a prisoner in the Wayne County Boot Camp, filed a Petition for Declaratory Judgment to

compel the Depar

tment of Correctio

n to calculate the da

te he will become eligible for mandatory pa

role. His petition recites that he was sentenced on July 11, 1992 to serve fifteen years in the custody of the Department of Correction, that he appeared three times before the Board of Paroles for hearings on early release, and that at the conclusion of t he th ird hearing, the Board determined that he would serve the remainder of his sentence without parole.-2-

Mr. Blankinship subsequently filed a Petition for a Declaratory Order with the Department of Correction, askin

g the Department t

o calculate

the date w hen he will become eligible for mandatory parole. When the Depar tment decl ined to grant his petition, he filed a Petition for Declaratory Judgment in the Chancery Court of Davidson County. The court dismissed the petition for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, see Tenn. R. Civ. P. 12.02(6), finding that the Board of Paroles rather than the Department of Correction was the administrative body for determining mandatory parole. This appeal followed. II. Mr. Blankinship b ases his argument upon Ten n. Code. Ann. § 40-28-117, which rea ds in pertinent part: (b) Every prisoner who has never been granted a parole of any type by the board on a particular sentence of imprisonment shall be granted a mandatory parole by the board . . . Tenn. Code. Ann. § 40-28-117(b) has never be e n repealed. However in 1989, subsequent to the enactment of Tenn. Code. Ann. § 40-28-117(b), the legislature amended Tenn. Code. Ann. § 40-28-115(b) to read, The parole eligib

ility of each per

son who commits a

crime after July 1, 1982 , shall be determined by the criteria listed in the Criminal Sentencing Reform Act of 1982. [Acts 1989, ch. 227 § 29] There is nothing in the Criminal Sentencing Reform Act of 1982 that provides for mandatory parole of any kind. It appears to

us that mandatory parole is available only to prisoners whose crime was committed prior to the date specified by Tenn. Code. Ann. § 40-28-115(b). Mr. Blankinship does not state when he committed the crime for whi ch he received his 1992 sentence

, and thus he fails to state a claim for which relief can be granted. III. The judgment of the trial court is affirmed. R emand this cause to the Chancery Court of Davidson County for further proceedings. Tax the costs on appeal to the app ell ant, Chad Blankinship.

_________________________________________ BEN H. CANTRELL, PRES IDING JUDGE, M.S.