Opinion

State Ex Rel. Wade v. Norvell

  • 1 Tenn. Crim. App. 447
  • 443 S.W.2d 839
  • 1969 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 285
Court
Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee
Filed
May 27, 1969
Status
Published
Author
Walker
On the bench
Walker, Oliver, Galbreath
Cited by
110 cases
Authority
More cited than 97.4%

“the courts have no jurisdiction to exercise authority or control or command or dominion over the board of probation and paroles [now the board of paroles] in the exercise of its statutory duties with reference to the parole of prisoners and allowance or forfeiture of time credits upon their sentences”

How later courts described this case

  • “the courts have no jurisdiction to exercise authority or control or command or dominion over the board of probation and paroles [now the board of paroles] in the exercise of its statutory duties with reference to the parole of prisoners and allowance or forfeiture of time credits upon their sentences”

Written by the judges who cited it.

The opinion

OPINION

WALKER, Presiding Judge.

The petitioner appeals from the dismissal of his petition for habeas corpus without an evidentiary hearing. After his answer, the respondent moved to dismiss the petition. The Court sustained the motion on the ground that the sole ground alleged for relief was denial of good time while on parole.

On November 20, 1967, the petitioner entered a plea of guilty to larceny from the person and was sentenced to three years in the penitentiary with credit for 360 days in jail awaiting trial. He says that in March, 1968, he appeared before the pardon and parole board and was informed that he had lost all of his good time on a previous 1962 sentence; that the earlier sentence had expired and the board had no authority to take it. The petitioner asks the Court to determine the beginning and final date of his November 20, 1967, sentence.

This petition was filed in the trial court April 29, 1968. It does not contend that the conviction was void or that it had expired. It merely seeks an advisory opinion on the beginning and ending of his sentence. Declaratory relief is not the function of habeas corpus. *449 From his petition, it appears that the time during which he may be legally detained has not expired. When the petition shows he is lawfully detained and there is nothing in it to indicate that his conviction was void or expired, the trial court may properly dismiss the petition without a hearing. See T.C.A. Sec. 23-1831; State ex rel. Byrd v. Bomar, 214 Tenn. 476 , 381 S.W.2d 280 . It is not necessary to remand this case for the respondent’s authority under Ussery v. Avery, Tenn., 432 S.W.2d 656 , because the petition does not claim that the sentence has expired.

The judgment of the trial court dismissing the petition is affirmed.

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

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