Statute of Limitations: Exceptions :: Tennessee Criminal Lawyer Blog

A statute of limitations is a statute that declares a maximum length of time during which a legal claim can be made after which time it is no longer available. For example, Tennessee’s statute of limitations on petitions for post-conviction relief in criminal cases is one year from the date on which judgment becomes final in cases where no appeal is taken. As a general rule, petitions for post-conviction relief that are filed after the statute of limitations has run are time-barred and the court will not consider them. However, there are three statutorily recognized exceptions that can work to defeat the statute of limitations and enable a defendant to bring an untimely petition for post-conviction relief:

Claims based on an appellate court ruling concerning a constitutional right not recognized at the time of the trial and given retroactive effect by the appellate courts

Claims based upon newly-discovered evidence which establishes that the petitioner is actually innocent of the crime

Claims which arise out of a situation where the petitioner received an enhanced sentence for a crime based on previous convictions which were later held to be invalid.

Thus, although a statute of limitations does operate to defeat most untimely petitions, there is some hope for the defendant who falls into one of the three categories listed above. Of the three exceptions listed above, exception (2) is probably the most common method of exception used, as new constitutional rights do not spring up with much frequency and previous convictions are not often held invalid for purposes of sentencing. However, all three of the exceptions are equally valid and any argument that seems to fit one of them should be pursued, as it may mean the difference in a petition for post-conviction relief being heard by the court and being time-barred. These exceptions can be particularly important for attorneys in the unfortunate and potentially disastrous event that they fail to file such a petition before the statute of limitations runs.

Source: Summers v. Tennessee, Case No. M2008-00728-CCA-R3-PC - Filed August 29, 2008, Tenn. Ct. Crim. App.