Patrick Wingate v. State of Tennessee

Patrick Wingate appeals the Bedford County Circuit Court's summary dismissal of his petition for post-conviction relief. He is serving sentences of life and 25 years in the Department of Correction as a result of his 1998 convictions of first-degree murder and arson. This court affirmed the convictions. See State v. Patrick Wingate, No. M1999-00624-CCA-R3-CD (Tenn. Crim. App., Nashville, May 25, 2000), perm. app. denied (Tenn. 2000). Wingate's post-conviction petition challenged (1) the effectiveness of his trial counsel's assistance and (2) the sufficiency of the convicting evidence. On April 30, 2001, the post-conviction court entered an order dismissing the petition on grounds that it contained mere conclusions of law and bare, unsupported factual allegations. Because we agree that the post-conviction petition was properly dismissed, we affirm.