Kendrick Quintarius Gates a/k/a Kendrick Gates v. State of Mississippi

── Kendrick Quintarius Gates a/k/a Kendrick Gates v. State of Mississippi ── Court: Court of Appeals of Mississippi Date: May 19, 2026 Category: General IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI NO. 2024-CP-00074-COA KENDRICK QUINTARIUS GATES A/K/A APPELLANT KENDRICK GATES v. STATE OF MISSISSIPPI APPELLEE DATE OF JUDGMENT: 12/07/2023 TRIAL JUDGE: HON. WILLIAM HUNTER NOWELL COURT FROM WHICH APPEALED: BOLIVAR COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT, SECOND JUDICIAL DISTRICT ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT: KENDRICK QUINTARIUS GATES (PRO SE) ATTORNEY FOR APPELLEE: OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL BY: SCOTT STUART NATURE OF THE CASE: CIVIL - POST-CONVICTION RELIEF DISPOSITION: AFFIRMED - 05/19/2026 MOTION FOR REHEARING FILED: BEFORE BARNES, C.J., LAWRENCE AND EMFINGER, JJ. LAWRENCE, J., FOR THE COURT: ¶1. Kendrick Gates appeals the dismissal of his motion for post-conviction collateral relief (PCR), arguing that he was wrongfully denied parole. The circuit court dismissed the PCR motion as time-barred. After review, we affirm. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY ¶2. On September 26, 2019, Gates was indicted for one count of enticement of a child to meet for sexual purposes, violating Mississippi Code Annotated section 97-5-33(6) (Rev. 2014) (Count I); enticement of a child to produce a visual depiction of sexual conduct, violating Mississippi Code Annotated section 97-5-33(7) (Count II); sexual battery in violation of Mississippi Code Annotated section “97-3-97(1)(d)” (Count III),1 and gratification of lust in violation of Mississippi Code Annotated section 97-5-23 (Supp. 2015) (Count IV). Gates pled guilty to Counts I, II, and III, and on November 13, 2020, a judgment of conviction and sentencing was entered.2 ¶3. Gates was sentenced to fifteen years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC) for Count I, with five years suspended under supervised probation after Gates has served ten years. For Count II, Gates received the same sentence as Count I— fifteen years, with five years suspended under supervised probation once Gates has served ten years. For Count III, Gates was sentenced to forty years in the custody of MDOC, with fifteen years suspended and placement on five years of supervised probation and ten years 1 The indictment, sentencing judgment, and order dismissing the PCR motion stated that Gates violated section 97-3-97(1)(d). In the transcript, Gates admitted to guilt under section “97-3-97-1.” The electronic docket lists Count III as a violation of Mississippi Code Annotated section 97-3-95. Gates argued that the evidence submitted by the State demonstrated that he should be sentenced under Mississippi Code Annotated section “97-3- 95(2)(a)” to a lesser sentence of five years. There is no Mississippi Code Annotated section 97-3-97(1)(d) or section 97-3-95(2)(a). There is a Mississippi Code Annotated section 97-3- 95(1)(d), which contained the essential elements and the correct Code section that Gates actually pled guilty to. There was an obvious scrivener’s error that did not render the indictment defective. Evans v. State, 916 So. 2d 550, 552 (¶6) (Miss. Ct. App. 2005) (“[T]he incorrect citation of a statute number does not alone render an indictment defective[.]” (citing White v. State, 169 Miss. 332, 153 So. 387, 388 (1934)). Regardless, this error is waived by Gates’s guilty plea to the crime of sexual battery. Kincaid v. State, 711 So. 2d 873, 877 (¶19) (Miss. 1998) (“[A] valid guilty plea. . . admits all elements of a formal charge and operates as a waiver of all non-jurisdictional defects[.]” (quoting Conerly v. State, 607 So. 2d 1153 (Miss. 1992)). 2 The State indicated for the record that it was remand