Porter v. State
Porter v. State
Opinion of the Court
¶ 1. Keith Porter pleaded guilty to armed robbery and unlawful possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. For his armed-robbery conviction, the court sentenced him to twenty-five years, with twenty years suspended and five years to serve, in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC). As for the unlawful-possession-of-a-firearm conviction, the court sentenced him, as a habitual offender, to serve ten years in the custody of the MDOC. The circuit court also sentenced Porter to five years of post-release supervision and ordered his sentences to run consecutively.
¶ 2. Since his conviction, Porter has filed four motions for post-conviction relief (PCR). In his fourth PCR motion-the subject of this appeal-he attacks his guilty plea to possession of a firearm as a convicted felon. Finding the petition successive-writ barred, the circuit court dismissed the petition without an evidentiary hearing. Porter now appeals. Finding no error in the circuit court's dismissal, we affirm.
STANDARD OF REVIEW
¶ 3. 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 ...."
¶ 4. "[T]he right to an evidentiary hearing is not guaranteed."
DISCUSSION
¶ 5. To determine whether the circuit court erred in summarily dismissing Porter's petition, this Court must look to the merits of the petition. Under the Uniform Post-Conviction Collateral Relief Act (UPCCRA), the dismissal of a PCR motion *733is a final judgment and acts as a bar to a second, or successive, motion raising the same issue or issues.
¶ 6. We acknowledge that "errors affecting fundamental constitutional rights are excepted from the procedural bars of the UPCCRA." Rowland v. State ,
¶ 7. Porter's claims do not implicate any fundamental-constitutional-rights violations. Thus, the circuit court did not abuse its discretion in dismissing Porter's PCR motion.
¶ 8. AFFIRMED.
LEE, C.J., IRVING AND GRIFFIS, P.JJ., BARNES, CARLTON, WILSON, GREENLEE, WESTBROOKS AND TINDELL, JJ., CONCUR.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.