Opinion
No. M1999-00290-CCA-R3-CD.
Filed September 29, 2000. June 2000 Session
Appeal as of Right from the Circuit Court for Lawrence County, No. 20669-20671, Robert L. Jones, Judge.
Affirmed.
Gregory D. Smith, Clarksville, Tennessee, attorney for the appellant, Dyron H. Yokley.
Paul G. Summers, Attorney General and Reporter, David H. Findley, Assistant Attorney General, Nashville, Tennessee and Mike Bottom, District Attorney General and James G. White, Assistant District Attorney, Lawrenceburg, Tennessee attorneys for the appellee, State of Tennessee.
Jerry Smith, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which David H. Welles, J., and John Everett Williams, J., joined.
OPINION
Initially, we note that the defendant is correct in one respect; because he entered "best interest" pleas to four (4) counts of aggravated robbery, he was ineligible for consideration of probation. Tenn. Code Ann. § 40-35-303(a). However, a motion to withdraw a plea must be made prior to the judgment becoming final. Tenn. R. Crim. P. 32 (f). The defendant made no such motion. After a judgment becomes final, a defendant may then seek to have his guilty plea set aside in post-conviction proceedings. Tenn. Code Ann. § 40-30-201 et seq. Thus, although this challenge, if proven, may form the basis of a post-conviction petition, this Court lacks jurisdiction to hear the case in its present posture.
Tennessee Rule of Criminal Procedure 32 (f) provides
[a] motion to withdraw a plea of guilty may be made upon a showing by the defendant of any fair and just reason only before sentence is imposed; but to correct manifest injustice, the court after sentence, but before judgment becomes final, may set aside the judgment of conviction and permit the defendant to withdraw his plea.
Accordingly, the judgment of the trial court is AFFIRMED.