### IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OF TENNESSEE AT KNOXVILLE

STATE OF TENNESSEE v. LESLI E E. RAYMOND

Appeal from the Criminal Court for Knox County No. 77937 Mary Beth Leibowitz, Judge

No. E2003-02709-CCA-R3-CD - Filed August 6, 2004

The petitioner, Leslie E. Ray mond, appeals the trial court's dismissal of his motion to correct an illegal sentence. The State has filed a motion requesting that this Court dismiss the appeal or, in the alternat ive, affirm the trial court's action pursuant to Rule 20, Rules of the Court of Criminal Appeals. The motion is without merit. Accordingly , the judgment of the trial court is affirmed.

Tenn. R. App. P. 3 Appeal as of Right; Judgment of the Criminal Court Affirmed

Pursuant to Rule 20 , Rules of the Court of Cr

iminal App eals

J AMES C URWOOD W ITT , J R ., J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which G ARY R. W ADE , P.J., and N ORMA M C G EE O GLE , J., joined.
Leslie E. Ray

mond, Whiteville, Tennessee, pro se.

Paul G. Summers , Attorne y G eneral & Repor ter; John H. Bledsoe , Assis tant Attor ney Genera l; Randall E. Nichol s, District Attorne y G eneral ; Takisha

Fitzger ald, Assis tant Distr

ic t Attorn ey General, for the appellee, State of Te nnessee.

MEMORAN

DUM OP INION

The record

reflects that in A

ugust 20 03, the de fendant waived h

is right t o trial a n d was convicted pursu ant to gu ilty

ple as of felony the ft, criminal impersonation, simple possession of marijuana, and three counts of violation of the bad check law. The trial court imposed an effective three year se

ntence of impriso nme nt. On Sept ember 18 , 2003, the

defenda nt filed a motion to correct an il le ga l s en te nc e. Th e d ef en da nt as se rt ed th at up on hi s a rr iv al in th e c us to dy of th e Tennessee Department of Correction, he was advised that he wa s liable for payme nt of a tax for

the criminal injuries compensation fund and li tiga tion taxes a ssessed a gainst h im for ea ch of his conviction offenses. The defendant arg ued that the a sses sment of these taxes rendered his conviction judgmen ts illegal because he was found indig ent in the proceedings below and he was never advised that any taxes would be assessed. T he defendant further arg

ued that the as sessed taxes violate the equal protection clause of the United States Constitution because "no other county require s this of their sentenced felons." The

defendant moved the court to waive the assessed "fees and c osts" and-2-

enter judgmen ts amended accordingly . The trial court dismissed the defendant's motion. The instant appeal followed.

Ini ti al ly, this court notes that the defendant has n o appeal as of right from the dismissal of

a motion to correct an illegal sentence. See Rule 3(b) , T.R.A.P; State v. McKissack , 917 S.W.2d 714, 715-16 (T enn. Crim. App. 1995 ); State v. Michael S. Stacy , No. E2003-01 062-CCA- R3-CD (Tenn. Crim. App., Knoxville, Oct. 13, 2003). Moreover, if this court reached the merits of the appeal, we conc lude that

the petiti oner' s argum ent i s without m erit. Tennessee Code Annotated Section 40-24-107 levies a pri vil ege tax which funds the criminal injuries compensation fund "[w]hen any person is convicted by a circuit c ourt or a

compara ble court of record with jurisdiction

over criminal m atters of a cri me of any nature after J uly 1, 1984 . . ." w ith certain ex ceptions not applica ble here. In addition, various litiga tion taxes are levied on criminal chargesin cases instituted inthe city, county

, and state courts purs u ant to Tennessee Code Annotated Section 67-4-602. Section 67-4-603, in turn, provides for the collection by the cle

rks of the various courts of the taxes imposed pursuant to Section 67-4-602 "[u]pon a finding of guilt, plea of guilty , or submission to fine ina criminal action from the defendant . . . ." Tenn. Code Ann. § 67-4-603(a)(2). Moreover , when the clerk of the court certifies to the commissione r of correction that the prisoner has not paid the entire tax due, "the commissioner . . . shall then cause any amount owing to be collected from the inmate during the inmate's period of confine ment." Tenn. Code Ann. § 67-4-603(b)(1).

Upon due consideration of the record, pleadings and applicable la w, the court concludes that the trial cou

rt prope rly dis missed t he petitioner's motion. Accordingly , the state’s motion for summary affirmance is granted and the judgment of the court below is affir med in ac cordanc e with Rule 20, Rules of the Court of Criminal Appeals.

________________________________ __ ____ _ JAMES CURWOOD WITT, JR., JUDGE