Opinion ID: 1935792
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: facts

Text: On April 2, 1990, Shanks pled guilty to armed robbery and robbery. Shanks received a twenty-five year sentence for armed robbery and a fifteen year concurrent sentence for robbery. On February 18, 1993, Shanks filed a motion for post-conviction relief in the Circuit Court of Wayne County requesting that his guilty plea to armed robbery be vacated because the trial judge and his attorney failed to inform him that the first ten years of his armed robbery sentence would have to be served without possibility of parole pursuant to Miss. Code Ann. § 47-7-3(1)(d) (Supp. 1990). On March 25, 1993, the trial judge entered an order denying the motion for post-conviction relief. In denying the post-conviction relief, the trial judge found that: Mr. Shanks understood each paragraph [of his guilty plea petition] including Paragraph 16... . He stated that he understood whether he made parole or did not make parole would be up to the authorities at the Parole Board. Paragraph 16 of said petition, which Mr. Shanks signed under oath and which he told the Court he understood, states that any estimate of the time required to serve before becoming eligible for parole or release made by his attorney was an estimate only and that the Parole Board was not bound by that estimate. Shanks filed an appeal alleging that the trial judge failed to inform him that the first ten years of his sentence would be mandatory; thus, his plea was involuntary and unintelligently made.