Sheffield v. State

Tommy Ray Sheffield appeals from the circuit court's denial of his petition for postconviction relief, filed pursuant to Rule 32, Ala.R.Crim.P., in which he attacked his July 1992 guilty-plea conviction for first-degree theft and his resulting sentence as an habitual felony offender to life imprisonment. No direct appeal was taken from this conviction.

On December 12, 2005, Sheffield filed the instant Rule 32 petition. He alleged in his petition that the trial court was without jurisdiction to render judgment or to impose sentence because, he said, (1) his conviction was "not based upon an…