Dykes v. State

The defendant was not entitled to an out-of-time appeal of his 1986 conviction for financial transaction card fraud because the record showed that he slept on his appellate rights.

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Roy Lee Dykes appeals from the trial court’s denial of his motion for out-of-time appeal filed sixteen years after his conviction for financial transaction card fraud. We affirm. The record shows that on October 24, 1986, Dykes pled guilty to seven counts of financial transaction card fraud. The record contains a plea memorandum signed by Dykes and his counsel, which provides that Dykes would plead guilty to all the charges and that all prior probation would be revoked. The plea agreement provided for ten years confinement on the new financial transaction fraud charges, “leaving it up to the Judge” as to any probation to follow. The memorandum also noted that Dykes would acknowledge other financial transaction fraud charges that were not charged in the accusation. In connection with his plea, Dykes and his trial attorney signed the accusation in the case directly under language reading, “The Defendant . . . waives copy of accusation, list of witnesses and being formally arraigned, waives indictment by the Grand Jury of said County, and also waives trial by jury, and pleads guilty.” No other documents regarding his guilty plea exist in the record. The clerk of court has certified that no transcript of any plea hearing was ever filed.

Dykes’s sentence was reviewed and affirmed by the Superior Court Sentence Review Panel on February 27, 1987. On August 15, 1989, the State Board of Pardon and Paroles issued Dykes a parole certificate, indicating that he would be paroled on the fraud charges on September 1, 1989, with the parole to expire on September 1, 1996. And in June 1991, the board issued Dykes an “Order of Restoration of Civil and Political Rights Commutation” in connection with those charges. Dykes filed his motion for out-of-time appeal on December 31, 2002, and amended his motion to raise additional grounds on January 9, 2003.

Dykes v. State

The defendant was not entitled to an out-of-time appeal of his 1986 conviction for financial transaction card fraud because the record showed that he slept on his appellate rights.

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