COURT FROM WHICH APPEALED: LAUDERDALE COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT. DATE OF JUDGMENT: 01/22/2014. TRIAL JUDGE: HON. LESTER F. WILLIAMSON JR. TRIAL COURT DISPOSITION: DISMISSED MOTION FOR POST-CONVICTION RELIEF.
EDDIE CHARLES WILLIAMS, APPELLANT, Pro se.
FOR APPELLEE: BARBARA WAKELAND BYRD, OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL.
BEFORE IRVING, P.J., BARNES AND MAXWELL, JJ. LEE, C.J., GRIFFIS, P.J., BARNES, ISHEE, CARLTON, MAXWELL, FAIR AND JAMES, JJ., CONCUR. ROBERTS, J., NOT PARTICIPATING.
OPINION
NATURE OF THE CASE: CIVIL - POST-CONVICTION RELIEF
IRVING, P.J.
¶1. Eddie Charles Williams filed a pro se motion for post-conviction relief (PCR), which the circuit court summarily dismissed. Feeling aggrieved, Williams appeals and argues that his attorney was
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ineffective, and the circuit court erred because his plea was not made voluntarily inasmuch as it was made in reliance upon misinformation provided by his trial counsel and the assistant district attorney (ADA) regarding his eligibility for parole.
¶2. Finding no error, we affirm.
FACTS
¶3. On December 10, 1997, Williams submitted his petition to enter a plea of guilty to armed robbery. A hearing on the petition was held on December 11, 1997, where Williams admitted that on October 10, 1996, he " willfully, unlawfully, and feloniously took the personal property of Red Apple Truck Stop[,] which consisted of an undetermined amount of cash from the person and presence of Lynette Mapps, an employee of Red Apple Truck Stop, against her will by exhibiting a pistol," and that his actions " put [Mapp] in fear of immediate injury to her person."
¶4. During Williams's guilty-plea hearing, the circuit court advised and questioned Williams about his understanding of the charges against him. Williams stated that he understood the rights he was waiving by pleading guilty and acknowledged that the State recommended a sentence of thirty years. Thereafter, the following colloquy occurred:
COURT: Eddie, do you understand that a thirty year sentence of armed robbery, that you'll probably end up having to serve or you will end up having to ...