Case Name: West COLE v. STATE of Mississippi
Court: Mississippi Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Mississippi
Decision Date: 1992-08-31
Citations: 608 So. 2d 1313
Docket Number: No. 90-KA-1094
Parties: West COLE v. STATE of Mississippi.
Judges: ROY NOBLE LEE, C.J., HAWKINS, and DAN M. LEE, P.JJ., and PITTMAN, J., concur.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 608
Pages: 1313–1331

Head Matter:
West COLE v. STATE of Mississippi.
No. 90-KA-1094.
Supreme Court of Mississippi.
Aug. 31, 1992.
Rehearing Denied Dec. 3, 1992.
See also 525 So.2d 365.
Dewitt L. Fortenberry, Jr., Mendenhall, James W. Craig, Jackson, for appellant.
Michael C. Moore, Atty. Gen., Marvin L. White, Jr., Asst. Atty. Gen., Charlene R. Pierce, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., Jackson, for appellee.

Opinion:
McRAE, Justice,
for the Court:
On January 21, 1957, West Cole entered a plea of guilty to manslaughter in the Circuit Court of Coahoma County. He was sentenced to serve one year in jail. Subsequently, Cole was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death. See Cole v. State, 525 So.2d 365 (Miss.1987), cert. denied 488 U.S. 934, 109 S.Ct. 330, 102 L.Ed.2d 348 (1988), reh'g. denied 488 U.S. 1023, 109 S.Ct. 826, 102 L.Ed.2d 815 (1989). This manslaughter conviction was used as an aggravating circumstance at the sentencing phase of Cole's capital murder trial.
On April 2, 1989, Cole filed a motion pursuant to the Mississippi Uniform Post-Conviction Collateral Relief Act (UPCCRA), to vacate and set aside the judgment on the ground that he was not represented by a lawyer during the court proceedings. On January 2, 1990, Cole amended his motion to include as an additional ground for relief the charge that he was incompetent to plead guilty in 1957. The trial court considered and summarily denied the motion, holding Cole barred by the three year statute of limitations found in the UPCCRA. We affirm.
/.
Cole maintains that he is excepted from the procedural bar of the UPCCRA because (1) intervening decisions have been rendered which would have adversely affected the outcome of his conviction, and (2) his charge of violation of constitutional due process rights may not be procedurally barred. He attached to his motion a copy of the Coahoma County Circuit Court docket in the 1957 cause which left blank the space provided for entry of the name of defendant's counsel.
The State has responded that (1) Cole's attack on the 1957 judgment was made for the purpose of impacting the validity of his death sentence, (2) Cole's claims are barred by the three year statute of limitations of the UPCCRA, Miss.Code Ann. § 99-39-5(2) (Supp.1991), (3) the intervening decisions cited by Cole were decided prior to the running of the statute of limitations, and, therefore, could have been raised sooner, and (4) the minutes of the Court regarding the 1957 manslaughter conviction recite that Cole was represented by counsel during the court proceedings.
Aggrieved by the adverse decision of the trial court, Cole appeals, contending:
(1) His mental incompetence tolls the running of the statute of limitations;
(2) The Mississippi Uniform Post-Conviction Collateral Relief Act's abolition of the common law writ of post-conviction habeas corpus, § 99-39-3(1), in conjunction with the three year statute of limitations, § 99-39-5(2), acts as a suspension of the writ of habeas corpus in violation of the Mississippi Constitution of 1890, art. 3, § 14, 21, and the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution;
(3) The intervening decision of Johnson v. Mississippi and Johnson v. State except his petition from the statute of limitations;
(4) He is entitled to an evidentiary hearing on his claims.
II.
DOES WEST COLE'S ALLEGED INCOMPETENCE TOLL THE RUNNING OF THE STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS?
Cole alleges that Miss.Code Ann. § 15-1-59 (Supp.1991) prevents application of the three year statute of limitations of the UPCCRA. Miss.Code Ann. § 15-1-59 (Supp.1991) provides:
If any person entitled to bring any of the personal actions mentioned shall, at the time at which the cause of action accrued, be under the disability of infancy or unsoundness of mind, he may bring the actions within the times in this chapter respectively limited, after his disability shall be removed as provided by law. However, the saving in favor of persons under disability of unsoundness of mind shall never extend longer than twenty-one (21) years.
Simply put, the limitation period provided by Miss.Code Ann. § 99-39-5(2) is not subject to the savings clause in Miss.Code Ann. § 15-1-59. The savings clause in § 15-1-59 applies only to actions mentioned in Chapter 1, Title 15 of the Mississippi Code of 1972, and we have clearly held so on at least two occasions.
In Foster v. Yazoo and MVR Co., 72 Miss. 886, 18 So. 380 (1895), the plaintiff sought to recover for his father's wrongful death. The statute of limitations was asserted as a defense. Plaintiff responded that he was an infant at the time of the alleged wrongful act, that he had not been represented by a guardian and his action was not barred because of the saving statute. We held that the saving statute applied only to actions mentioned in the Code chapter on "limitations of actions", which did not include the wrongful death statute.
Foster was cited with approval in Arender v. Smith County Hospital, 431 So.2d 491 (Miss.1983). In Arender we rejected the argument that the time for bringing a wrongful death action was subject to the savings clause of § 15-1-59 and stated:
The above statute specifically reserves the tolling of the limitation period to those personal actions mentioned within the chapter of which the wrongful death act is not one.

The statute of limitations does not look to the character of the plaintiff, but to the nature of the action. This is not so as to a savings clause. It contemplates the person, and not the action. The claim to exemption is against the current of the law, and not coextensive with its effective provisions. In case of doubt, therefore, the presumption is against the one claiming the exemption. The savings of the statute áre not to be as liberally construed as its effective provisions, because they are designed to put an end to strife and litigation, and tend to the security of all men.
Arender 431 So.2d at 492, 493, 494.
Our Post-Conviction Relief Act is not anywhere mentioned Miss.Code Ann. § 15-1-1 et seq. (Supp.1991), and, there- . fore, is not subject to the savings provision in § 15-1-59. Moreover, there is no language in the UPCCRA providing that such an exception tolls the statute of limitations of the act. There is no merit to this claim.
Also, remember that Cole attacks a plea and conviction which occurred in 1957, and was later used against him in capital murder proceedings. The savings clause of § 15-1-59 provides in pertinent part that "the saving in favor of persons under disability of unsoundness of mind shall never extend longer than twenty-one (21) years."
Cole was thus entitled to bring an action attacking his 1957 plea and conviction for more than 32 years before he got around to filing the pleadings for this purpose. The enactment of our UPCCRA did not create new notions of jurisprudence, but instead simply codified review constraints traditionally practiced by this Court. Irving v. State, 498 So.2d 305, 308 (Miss.1986). Our articulations in Irving make this abundantly clear.
Thus, even assuming (and we do so here only arguendo) Cole's right to challenge the 1957 plea and conviction was preserved and prolonged by the savings clause of § 15-1-59, it nevertheless expired in 1978 by the plain provisions of the statute. This occurred six years prior to the enactment of our UPCCRA. Under these circumstances, § 15-1-59 does not toll the running of our UPCCRA limitations clock. To hold otherwise would be tantamount to holding that enactment of our UPCCRA revived and resurrected Cole's claim. We should not ascribe such an illogical, unreasonable, and irrational intent or purpose to the legislature. Surely, when considering codification of our UPCCRA, the legislature knew that:
(a) a right of action may not be revived by the legislature after it has been barred by the statute of limitations, see generally; 51 Am.Jur.2d, Limitation of Actions, § 46 (1970);
(b) the enumeration of exceptions to the time limitations of the UPCCRA by implication excluded all others, see generally 51 Am.Jur.2d, Limitation of Actions, § 57 (1970);
(c) the rule that courts will not read exceptions into a statute of limitations applies to persons of mental incompetency or incapacity, see generally 51 Am.Jur.2d, Limitation of Actions, § 186 (1970); and
(d) a time limitations statute containing no exception in favor of persons under legal disability runs against the right of action existing in favor of such person, and, upon the expiration of the limitations period, bars the right to sue to the same extent and with the same effect as if he or she were a person sui juris, see generally 51 Am.Jur.2d, Limitation of Actions, § 178 (1970).
The primary purpose of statutory time limitations is to compel the exercise of a right of action within a reasonable time. These statutes are founded upon the general experience of society that valid claims will be promptly pursued and not allowed to remain neglected. They are designed to suppress assertion of false and stale claims, when evidence has been lost, memories have faded, witnesses are unavailable, or facts are incapable of production because of the lapse of time.
Accordingly, the fact that a barred claim is a just one or has the sanction of a moral obligation does not exempt it from the limitation period. These statutes of repose apply with full force to all claims and courts cannot refuse to give the statute effect merely because it seems to operate harshly in a given case. The establishment of these time boundaries is a leg islative prerogative. That body has the right to fix reasonable periods within which an action shall be brought and, within its sound discretion, determine the limitation period. See generally 51 Am.Jur.2d, Limitation of Actions, § 12, 17, 18, 19 (1970). The legislature likewise has the right and power to exclude exceptions in the case of persons non compos mentis. 51 Am.Jur. 2d, Limitation of Actions, § 186 (1970); Kirwan v. State, 31 Conn.Supp. 46, 320 A.2d 837, 839 (1974). We are not aware of any authority which holds that a post-conviction claim of incompetency may not be subject to reasonable time constraints.
Deficiencies, if such there should be, in statutes of limitation should be remedied by the legislature. It should not be the province or function of this court to intrude upon an area peculiarly within the channel of legislative action. In the end, we hold the savings clause of § 15-1-59 inapplicable, and Cole's claims time barred by the applicable provision of the Uniform Post-Conviction Collateral Relief Act, Miss.Code Ann. § 99-39-5(2) (Supp.1991).
Ill
DID THE UPCCRA STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS EFFECTIVELY SUSPEND THE WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS IN VIOLATION OF THE MISSISSIPPI CONSTITUTION of 1890 (ART 3, § U and 21), AND THE EIGHTH AND FOURTEENTH AMENDMENTS TO THE U.S. CONSTITUTION)?
Cole relies on language set out in the concurring opinion of Freelon v. State, 569 So.2d 1168, 1170 (Miss.1990). In Freel-on, a petition to set aside a 1977 guilty plea was filed in 1989. The Circuit Court denied relief and mailed Freelon a copy of the order. Freelon did not receive copy of the order within time to perfect an appeal. The Circuit Court subsequently denied his motion for an out-of-time appeal. We affirmed because the petition was time barred when originally filed, and nothing could be accomplished by granting an out-of-time appeal from a trial court ruling on a time barred petition. The concurring opinion confirmed that the cause should be affirmed because Freelon made no showing that he was entitled to an out-of-time appeal, and stated:
I write because I fear the opinion may be read by some as deciding a proposition which has been neither raised nor litigated and is not necessary to the decision today.
In my view, the enforceability of the three-year statute of limitations in the Mississippi Uniform Post-Conviction Collateral Relief Act, Miss.Code Ann. § 99-39-5(2) (Supp.1990), is highly problematical. It likely constitutes a suspension of the writ of habeas corpus in violation of Miss. Const. Art. 3, § 21 (1890). The question was before us in Reynolds v. State, 521 So.2d 914, 915 (Miss.1988), but we did not decide it because the complaining prisoner lacked standing.
This gratuitous language was not necessary for the Freelon decision, and expresses a mere generalization of the author's concept of legitimate boundaries for time restrictions in post-conviction cases. It cannot be used as a spring board to hold this portion of our legislative enactment unconstitutional. In this case, Cole failed to file his claim within the time provided in our UPCCRA. He is not exempted from reasonable time constraints because of his incompetency. Unless this portion of the enactment is unconstitutional, he is procedurally barred.
This precise issue was addressed in Davis v. State, 443 N.W.2d 707 (Iowa 1989), where the Iowa court considered a charge that the three year statute of limitations in their post-conviction relief act violated Iowa's Constitution. In rejecting this claim, the Iowa court stated:
The thrust of appellant's argument is that postconviction relief, when utilized as a substitute remedy for habeas corpus, may not be limited by a statute of limitations without violating the prohibition against suspending the writ. We do not agree.
[T]he legislature may impose reasonable restriction upon the exercise of a constitutional right. Emberton v. County of
San Diego, 186 Cal.App.3d 268, 271, 230 Cal.Rptr. 572, 574 (1986), cert. denied, 481 U.S. 1038, 107 S.Ct. 1975, 95 L.Ed.2d 815 (1987); People v. Germany, 674 P.2d 345, 450 (Colo.1983). In State v. Berg, 237 Iowa 356, 21 N.W.2d 777 (1946), we stated:
Legislatures may pass laws regulating, within reasonable limits, the mode in which rights secured to the subject by bills of right and constitutions shall be enjoyed, and if the subject neglects to comply with these regulations he thereby waives this constitutional privileges.
Id. at 361, 21 N.W.2d at 780. Such reasonable regulations are proper so long as no constitutional right is materially impaired. Schloemer v. Uhlenhopp, 237 Iowa 279, 282, 21 N.W.2d 457, 458 (1946).
This restriction involves the time period to commence the action. It is a well-settled principle that a state may attach reasonable time limitations to the assertion of federal constitutional rights. United States v. Randolph, 262 F.2d 10, 12 (7th Cir.1958), Cert. denied, 359 U.S. 1004, 79 S.Ct. 1143, 3 L.Ed.2d 1032 (1959) (citing Brown v. Allen, 344 U.S. 443, 486, 73 S.Ct. 397, 422, 97 L.Ed. 469, 504 (1953)). We conclude that a time limitation also may be placed on the exercise of a state constitutional right.
Furthermore, statutes of limitations speak to matters of remedy and procedure, rather than the destruction of fundamental rights. State ex rel. Krupke v. Witkowski, 256 N.W.2d 216, 224 (Iowa 1977); Presbytery of Southeast Iowa v. Harris, 226 N.W.2d 232, 242 (Iowa), cert. denied, 423 U.S. 830, 96 S.Ct. 50, 46 L.Ed.2d 48 (1975). Here, appellant had a remedy; he had a three-year opportunity to challenge his criminal conviction. By failing to exercise that remedy, he effectively waived his right to challenge his conviction. See Randolph, 262 F.2d at 12.
For the reasons stated, we hold that the three-year limitation contained in section 663A.3 does not violate the constitutional prohibition against the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus.
443 N.W.2d at 709-10.
.The time limitations provisions of our UPCCRA are almost identical with those in Iowa. Our statute, like Iowa's, does not work an unconstitutional suspension of ha-beas corpus.
Further, in challenging the 1957 guilty plea, Cole offers no excuse or justification, other than his incompetence, for the 33 year delay in seeking post-conviction relief. The lapse of such an extended period of time without some explanation of justification in seeking post-conviction relief is sufficient in itself to time bar the claim.
In McElrath v. State, 276 S.C. 282, 277 S.E.2d 890 (1981), the South Carolina court considered a post-conviction relief claim from a conviction and sentence more than seventeen (17) years old. In affirming denial of the application because laches barred the claim, the court stated:
In 1959 appellant Johnnie McElrath was found guilty of escape, robbery and larceny during the fall term of the Court of General Sessions for Sumter County. He was sentenced to a one year period of confinement for the robbery and larceny offenses and a concurrent term of nine months for escape. Appellant now seeks relief from these convictions on the ground he was an indigent not represented by counsel. See Pickelsimer v. Wainwright, 375 U.S. 2, 84 S.Ct. 80, 11 L.Ed.2d 41 (1963), applying the appointed counsel requirement of Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 U.S. 335, 83 S.Ct. 792, 9 L.Ed.2d 799 (1963) retroactively.
The instant application was filed by appellant some seventeen years after his sentences on the challenged convictions had run, and while serving a four-year term for an unrelated crime.
We concur with the trial judge's finding that laches bars appellant's claim for collateral relief from conviction and sentence now more than twenty years old. In the absence of some explanation or justification for delay in seeking post conviction relief as in this case, the feder al courts have held delays of seventeen years, Johnson v. Riddle, 562 F.2d 312 (4th Cir.1977), and fifteen years, Honeycutt v. Ward, 612 F.2d 36 (2nd Cir.1979), are sufficient time bars. Reasonable diligence in processing claims for relief is not an unjust, or unconstitutional, requirement in cases of this sort. The court in Honeycutt v. Ward, ibid at 42, imposed it thusly:
"While it is important that one convicted of crime in violation of constitutional principles should be accorded relief, it is also important that reasonable diligence be required in order that litigation may one day be at an end. Rule 9(a) (of the federal habeas corpus act) guards the state's legitimate expectation that it will not be called upon without due cause, to defend the integrity of convictions that occurred many years ago, where records and witnesses are no longer available."
277 S.E.2d at 890-91. This claim has no merit.
IV.
DO THE INTERVENING DECISIONS OF JOHNSON V MISSISSIPPI AND JOHNSON V STATE EXCEPT COLES PETITION FROM THE UPCCRA STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS?
Cole maintains that the cases of Johnson v. Mississippi, 486 U.S. 578, 108 S.Ct. 1981, 100 L.Ed.2d 575 (1988) and Johnson v. State, 547 So.2d 59 (Miss.1989) are intervening decisions which would have actually adversely affected the outcome of his conviction and sentence, and thus except his present petition from the time bar. Miss.Code Ann. § 99-39-5(2) (Supp.1991). We disagree.
The intervening decision contemplated by the UPCCRA is one which would affect the outcome of the 1957 conviction or sentence presently under attack by Cole. It provides an exception to the time bar in "those cases in which the prisoner can demonstrate either that there has been an intervening decision of the supreme court of either the state of Mississippi or the United States which would have actually adversely affected the outcome of his conviction or sentence ." The Johnson decisions do not affect, adverse or otherwise, the outcome of Cole's 1957 manslaughter conviction or sentence. Neither decision concerns the method for attacking a prior conviction, and neither decision changes the law regarding any aspect of Cole's entry of a guilty plea in this case.
V
IS COLE ENTITLED TO AN EVIDENTIARY HEARING?
Cole's final claim focuses on his alleged right to an evidentiary hearing. He states he was without benefit of counsel at the time, and relies on our pronouncements in Billiot v. State, 515 So.2d 1234, 1237 (Miss. 1987) and Neal v. State, 525 So.2d 1279 (Miss.1987) to the effect that he is entitled to an in-court opportunity to prove his claim if the pleadings meet the requirements of the act and presents a claim procedurally alive substantially showing denial of a state or federal right. These pronouncements have been followed in subsequent cases. See Myers v. State, 583 So.2d 174 (Miss.1991); Harris v. State, 578 So.2d 617, 619 (Miss.1991); Wright v. State, 577 So.2d 387 (Miss.1991).
We have analogized the Court's position when faced with a petition meeting pleading requirements with that of a court in a civil proceeding considering a motion for summary judgment. Neal, 525 So.2d at 1281; Harris, 578 So.2d at 619; Wright, 577 So.2d at 389; Billiot, 515 So.2d at 1237. There is a distinction, however, in that section 99-39-11 of our UPCCRA provides that the trial judge shall examine not only the pleadings, but also files, records, transcripts and correspondence relating to the judgment under attack as well as prior proceedings in the case in making his determination.
In making this examination, the Circuit Court ascertained that the official court minutes of the proceedings leading up to the judgment under attack showed that Cole was represented by counsel during the proceedings, and his pleadings are insufficient to create a factual issue disputing the verity imported to official records. In its Opinion and Order, the Circuit Court stated:
[T]he Court finds the following facts and circumstances existed in regard to the guilty plea(s) entered in 1957.... It is clear from a review of the official minute books of this Court that the inclusion of language indicating that a defendant was represented by counsel was not a mere formality entered in every case. This becomes apparent when all the entries are read. The records reflect that the inclusion of the Court's finding that certain defendants were represented by counsel was not a mere formality, but was only entered when a defendant was actually represented by counsel.
[T]he Minutes clearly state that petitioner was represented by counsel. The entry regarding the January 21, 1957, guilty plea to manslaughter in Cause No. 5052 is found on page 93 of Minute Book 14 of the Circuit Court of Coahoma County, Mississippi, plainly reads that petitioner was represented by counsel.... The records of the Circuit Court of Coa-homa County affirmatively demonstrate that petitioner was represented by counsel at the time he entered guilty plea(s)....
The Circuit Court found that Cole's claim of denial of counsel is belied by the applicable minutes of the court. These judicial records import absolute verity and may not be impeached by parole evidence. Entrekin v. Tidewater Associated Oil Co., 203 Miss. 767, 35 So.2d 305, 307 (1948); Shows v. State, 103 Miss. 640, 60 So. 726 (1913); Clark v. State, 100 Miss. 751, 57 So. 209 (1912); Jones v. Williams, 62 Miss. 182, 184 (1884).
In Entrekin, 35 So.2d at 307, we stated: [Official records required by law to be kept, import verity. [Citations omitted]. They deal with and dispose of, property, liberty and lives of litigants. There must be an end and finality to such proceedings. To permit witnesses, years after the judicial acts have taken place, to give to triers of fact who might accept them, their oral opinions that . official records were not genuine, would produce utter chaos in judicial procedure.... [I]t would cut the throat of reason and knock the brains out of common sense.
The verity imported to the minutes of the court reciting that Cole was represented by counsel during the 1957 court proceedings may not be overcome by his affidavit disputing the record. Such affidavit is simply a written proffer of parole evidence. The rule announced by us in Entrekin clearly shows this is insufficient. See also Turner v. State, 590 So.2d 871 (Miss.1991) (affirming summary denial of a post-conviction relief petition where the petitioner's claim was belied by the record of the plea colloquy between petitioner and the trial judge).
In addition, Cole is time barred. Under these circumstances, the Circuit Court was well within its authority in denying and dismissing Cole's motion without an eviden-tiary hearing.
VI.
Finding no error in the action of the Circuit Court denying and dismissing Cole's motion for post-conviction relief, we affirm.
LOWER COURT'S DENIAL AND DISMISSAL OF POST-CONVICTION RELIEF AFFIRMED.
ROY NOBLE LEE, C.J., HAWKINS, and DAN M. LEE, P.JJ., and PITTMAN, J., concur.
ROBERTSON, J., dissents with separate written opinion joined by PRATHER, SULLIVAN and BANKS, JJ.
BANKS, J., dissents with separate written opinion joined by PRATHER, ROBERTSON and SULLIVAN, JJ.
. Two other prior convictions were also introduced at Cole's capital murder trial — a January 25, 1963 conviction for attempted rape, and a January 25, 1963 conviction for armed robbery. Cole has collaterally attacked the 1963 conviction for attempted rape, and the appeal is pending before this Court in the companion case of Cole v. State, 608 So.2d 1331.