Anwar Proby v. State of Tennessee

The petitioner, Anwar Proby, appeals the Shelby County Criminal Court’s dismissal of his petition for post-conviction relief as time-barred. On appeal, the petitioner characterizes his petition as a motion to reopen and argues that it was timely filed because it was filed within one year of our supreme court’s holding in State v. Gomez, 239 S.W.3d 733 (Tenn. 2007) (“Gomez II), which the petitioner claims announced a new rule of law that is entitled to retroactive application. The State has filed a motion requesting that this court affirm the post-conviction court’s dismissal pursuant to Rule 20 of the Rules of the Court of Criminal Appeals. Review of the record indicates that the petition in this case was not a motion to reopen but, rather, the first petition for post-conviction relief filed in this case. Because the petitioner has failed to establish that the petition was timely filed or that a recognized exception to the rule applies, we grant the State’s motion and affirm the judgment of the Shelby County Criminal Court.