David Nichols v. State of Mississippi
David Nichols v. State of Mississippi
Opinion
¶ 1. In 2004, David Nichols pleaded guilty to two counts of murder and was sentenced to serve two life sentences in
the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections. Three years later, he filed his first motion for post-conviction relief (PCR), which was denied. He appealed, and the denial was affirmed in
Nichols v. State
,
¶ 2. Nichols filed a third PCR motion in 2016, which was denied and is now the subject of this appeal. Finding no error, we affirm.
FACTS
¶ 3. Nichols styled his third action as a motion for recusal/change of venue because he alleged wrongdoing by the State and because the judge assigned to rule on his motion was an assistant district attorney when Nichols was prosecuted. Nichols further claimed that false evidence was used to obtain a conviction, that his guilty plea was involuntarily entered, and that his counsel was ineffective. He also requested an evidentiary hearing.
¶ 4. As the assigned judge stated in his recusal order, he "did not participate in the prosecution, conviction[,] or sentencing of [Nichols] in any way or capacity during his employment with the Office of the District Attorney." Nor was he the original trial judge, though he had dismissed Nichols's second PCR as successive and time-barred. In any event, he recused himself in this case "out of an abundance of caution and in order to avoid any appearance of impropriety[.]" After the case was reassigned, the replacement circuit judge dismissed Nichols's motion-treating it as a third PCR motion-without an evidentiary hearing.
STANDARD OF REVIEW
¶ 5. A circuit court may summarily dismiss a PCR motion without an evidentiary hearing "[i]f it plainly appears from the face of the motion, any annexed exhibits[,] and the prior proceedings in the case that the movant is not entitled to any relief ...."
¶ 6. Our review of the summary dismissal of a PCR motion, a question of law, is de novo.
Young v. State
,
DISCUSSION
¶ 7. At the outset, we note that this is Nichols's third PCR motion. Under the Uniform Post-Conviction Collateral Relief Act (UPCCRA), the dismissal of a PCR motion is a final judgment and acts as a bar to a second, or successive, motion.
¶ 8. Since successive motions are not allowed, "[a] person who requests post-conviction relief is obligated to place before the court all claims known to him and/or of which he should have had knowledge."
Salter v. State
,
¶ 9. The UPCCRA also states that, in the instance of a guilty plea, a PCR motion shall be made within three years after the entry of the judgment of conviction.
¶ 10. We acknowledge that "errors affecting fundamental constitutional rights are excepted from the procedural bars."
See
Rowland v. State
,
¶ 11. Finally, although Nichols has attached several new documents to his appellant's brief, these documents were not presented to the circuit court during the post-conviction proceedings. For that reason, this Court does not consider them.
See
Hampton v. State,
¶ 12. AFFIRMED.
LEE, C.J., IRVING AND GRIFFIS, P.JJ., BARNES, CARLTON, WILSON, GREENLEE, WESTBROOKS AND TINDELL, JJ., CONCUR.
In his first PCR motion, Nichols claimed that: "(1) no factual basis for his plea was established; (2) his counsel was ineffective; (3) the trial court erred in failing to conduct an evidentiary hearing; and (4) the cumulative errors require reversal."
Nichols
,
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.