# FILED
September 23, 1998 Cecil Crowson, Jr. Appellate C ourt Clerk IN THE COURT OF CRIMI NAL APPEALS OF TENNESSEE

AT KNOXVILLE AUGUST 1998 SESSION

THOMAS RAY DYER, ) ) Appellant, ) No. 03C01-9712-CR-00515

) ) Knox County v. ) ) Honorable Richard Baumgar tner, Judge ) STATE OF TENNESSEE, ) (Post-Conviction) ) Appellee. )
For the Appellant : For the Appellee : Mark E. Stevens John Knox Walkup District Public Defender Attorney General of Tennessee and and John Halstead Clinton J. Morgan Assistant Public Defender Assistant Attorney Gener al of Tennessee 1209 Euclid Avenue 425 Fifth Avenue North Knoxville, TN 37921 Nashville, TN 37243-0493 (AT TRIAL) Randall E. Nichols Mark E. Stevens District Attorney General District Public Defender and and Marsha Selecman Paula R. Voss Assistant District A ttorney General John Halstead City-County Buil ding Assistant Public Defenders Knoxville, TN 37902 1209 Euclid Avenue Knoxville, TN 37921 (ON APPEAL)

OPINION FILED:____________________

AFFIRMED Joseph M. Tipton Judge1 Ordinaril y, a pet iti on that shows on i ts face that it was fi led after

the stat ute of li mitations has run and fai ls to al lege adequate g rounds to tol l the run ning of t he statute is subject

to dismissal upon the pleadi ngs without any heari ng. Such was not done i n this case, with t he trial court li stening t

o an issue not raised by the plead ings. 2 O P I N I O N

The petitioner, Thomas Ray Dy er, appeals as of right from the Knox County Criminal Cour

t’s order dismissing

his petition for post-conv iction relief as untimely filed. The petitioner asserts that his illi

teracy should serv

e as a basis for waiving the statut

e of limitations. We disagree.

The petitioner was conv icted on June 13, 1988, upon guil ty pleas, of second degree burglary , grand larceny, and at tempting to introduce drug s into a county jail, and received an effecti ve sentence of twenty- one years. He filed his petition for post-conviction reli ef on March 30, 1995, asserting various constitutional

violations. The petition contains no alleg ation about why it w as not filed earlier. It has not been amended by counsel. 1

After hearing arguments from co unsel and unsworn statements by the petitioner relative t

o his claimed illitera

cy, the trial court dismissed the petition without an evidentiary hearing because the then applicable statute of limita tions of three years from the end of the convicting c ases had already run. It stated that the fact that a petitioner was illiterate would not toll the running of the statute of limitations.

The petitioner acknowledges that this court has previously stated illiteracy and personal ignorance are not sufficient grounds for avoi ding the running of the statute. See Bernard Nelson v. State , No. 01C01-9212-CC-00375, Montgomery County (Tenn. Crim. App. Nov. 18, 1993); see also Raymond Dean Willis v. State , No. 01C01- 9211-CR-00359, Davidson County (Tenn. Crim. App. Oc t. 21, 1993), app
. denied3

(Tenn. Mar. 7, 1994). (Ignorance of existence of statute of limitation does not toll running of the statute.) He urges us, though, to reconsider and to hold that an inmate’s ignorance of the law, w hen caused by illiterac

y, constitutes sufficient ca use to waive the limitation period.

We do not believe that this case comes to us in a procedural or substantive posture that w ould warrant any chang e in our view of the la w. The judgment of the trial court i s affirmed.

_______________________________ Joseph M. Tipton, Judge CONCUR:

____________________________ Joe G. Riley, Judge

_____________________________ Thomas T. Woodall, Judge