Benjamin Ashley Ray Dickens v. State of Tennessee

A Davidson County jury found the Petitioner, Benjamin Ashley Ray Dickens, guilty of first degree felony murder, and the trial court sentenced him to life imprisonment in the Tennessee Department of Correction. The Petitioner appealed, and this Court affirmed the conviction in State v. Benjamin Ashley Ray Dickens, No. M2006-01697-CCA-R3-CD, 2007 WL 1988024, at *4 (Tenn. Crim. App., at Nashville, May 28, 2003), perm. app. denied (Tenn. Nov. 19, 2007). The Petitioner filed a petition for post-conviction relief and filed two subsequent amended petitions. After the post-conviction court held an evidentiary hearing, it dismissed the petition. On appeal, the Petitioner contends that the post-conviction court erred when it dismissed his petition because he received the ineffective assistance of counsel at trial, and he further argues that the State made improper arguments during its closing argument,amounting to prosecutorial misconduct. After a thorough review of the record and applicable law, we affirm the post-conviction court’s judgment.