Opinion ID: 2494211
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: UPCCRA Successive-Writ Bar

Text: ¶ 23. Mississippi's UPCCRA includes several procedural bars, but we limit our discussion to the successive-writ bar, the one addressed by the trial court and the Court of Appeals. ¶ 24. Based on this Court's dispositions of Jackson's 2002 and 2004 applications, the circuit court dismissed Jackson's 2007 PCR motion, finding it to be barred as a successive writ pursuant to Section 99-39-23(6), and the Court of Appeals agreed. Jackson, 67 So.3d 781, at 782. See Miss. Code Ann. § 99-39-23(6) (Rev.2007). ¶ 25. Section 99-39-23(6) provides the successive-writ bar for PCR motions. It states that any order dismissing the petitioner's motion or otherwise denying relief under this article is a final judgment and shall be conclusive until reversed. It shall be a bar to a second or successive motion under this article. Miss.Code Ann. § 99-39-23(6) (Rev.2007). ¶ 26. Here, we have vacated our denials of Jackson's 2002 and 2004 applications the denials that prompted the trial court to apply the successive-writ bar. Therefore, we reverse the trial court's dismissal of Jackson's motion under the successive-writ bar. See Miss.Code Ann. § 99-39-23(6) (Rev.2007). ¶ 27. In sum, Jackson properly filed his 2007 PCR motion in the trial court under Sections 99-39-5 and 99-39-7, and he properly appealed the trial court's dismissal of the motion, as a successive writ, to this Court under Section 99-39-25. We recognize that the trial court dismissed the motion as a successive writ based on our 2002 and 2004 denials of Jackson's applications, and that the Court of Appeals interpreted our denials as rejections of Jackson's arguments. But, having set aside our denials, we reverse the trial court's dismissal and the Court of Appeals' decision. Since the appellate record does not resolve the issues raised, we remand to the trial court for further post-conviction-relief proceedings.