Convicted sex offender wins appeal on The Murfreesboro Post

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Convicted sex offender wins appeal

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By: Lisa Marchesoni

Posted: Saturday, August 2, 2008 8:22 am

A twice-convicted sex offender will get another day in court after he won an appeal this week.

Convict Chad Parker, 35, of Murfreesboro was found guilty of raping an 18-year-old college student in 1991. He served a nine-year prison sentence before being released in 2001.

Four years later, Murfreesboro Police Detective Craig Snider charged Parker with fondling a Wilson County woman inside her car December 2005 at Target on Old Fort Parkway. She honked the horn, drawing the attention of other shoppers who called 911 and gave a description of Parker. Police apprehended him a few minutes later.

Parker entered a no contest plea to one count of aggravated sexual battery and burglary in June 2006. Under a plea agreement, Circuit Court Judge Don Ash sentenced him to 10 years in prison and community supervision for life.

Afterward, Parker appealed, complaining attorney Brion Payne was ineffective because Payne failed to tell Parker that under community supervision, he would have to regularly report to a parole officer, pay perhaps $45 in monthly fees and abide by the officer’s requirements. Parker stated his plea was not voluntary because Payne didn’t provide him the right information.

Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Robert W. Wedemeyer, who was joined by CCA Judge J.C. McLin, ordered Parker’s plea withdrawn and his case set again before Ash. No trial date was set.

Fellow CCA Judge D. Kelly Thomas Jr. disagreed, saying Payne’s failure to explain the community supervision to Parker did not show the attorney was ineffective.

Because the case returns to his court, Ash said he could not comment.

Payne said the plea form didn’t announce the information about community supervision for life.

Payne testified in a hearing Ash conducted on Parker’s complaint.

“I admitted I didn’t go over it with him,” Payne said, adding, he agreed Parker should have another plea.

In his ruling, Ash said Parker did not prove his complaint. Ash found Payne didn’t explain details about the community supervision program but based on prior appeals, that did not show Payne was ineffective as an attorney.

Parker is incarcerated at Whiteville Correctional Facility while awaiting a return for another plea or trial.

Tagged under CRIME

Member Opinions:

By: attagirl on 8/2/08
barrett, while I agree that Brion Payne is not a bad lawyer, and I definitely don't want to see a sex offender get a pass because of a technicality, our law is specific on what is an "informed guilty plea" and what is not.

It's kinda like medical consent. A doctor commits malpractice if he fails to tell you all the risks of any particular procedure or medicine, and then those risks harm you.

In a plea agreement, the judge merely approves or disapproves it. All the details are worked out between the DA and the defense attorney. A defendant has a constitutional right to know what he is agreeing to. And the constitution doesn't allow adding more punishment to a sentence after the sentence has already been imposed.