Michael R. Parrish v. Commonwealth
2007-SC-000782-DG April 23, 2009
Opinion by Justice Cunningham. All sitting; all concur.
Parrish entered an Alford plea to one count of cultivating marijuana and was sentenced to one year imprisonment, probated for two years. A year later, Parrish filed CR 60.02 and RCr 11.42 motions to vacate the judgment—claiming police officers gave perjured testimony against him. The trial court denied both motions. The Court of Appeals affirmed denial of the CR 60.02 motion and held that the RCr 11.42 motion was moot since Parrish’s probation had expired prior to consideration of the appeal. The Supreme Court affirmed the Court of Appeals, noting that the remedy offered by RCr 11.42 is a right to be released from one’s sentence. “It is axiomatic,” wrote the Court, “that a person cannot be released from a sentence which has been completed.”
The Supreme Court also upheld denial of the CR 60.02 motion, holding that Parrish was, in effect, challenging the sufficiency of the evidence against him. Since Parrish pled guilty, the Court held he had waived all defenses other than that the indictment charged no offense. The Court also noted that the record did not support his claims that his plea was coerced.
