Branden Miller and John Albert LeBrum v. Eighteenth Judicial District Court, 2007 MT 149

Summary

The Montana Supreme Court granted a petition for writ of supervisory control and reversed the district court's denial of motions seeking to preclude the State from pursuing or imposing the death penalty. The court held that Standard I.1.a. of Montana's Standards for Competency of Counsel in Death Penalty Cases required the prosecutor to file notice of intent to seek the death penalty within 60 days after arraignment, and that the rule did not contain a prejudice-based exception. The case was remanded for further proceedings.

Holdings

1. The petition was appropriate for resolution through a writ of supervisory control because the district court was proceeding under a mistake of law, the ruling caused a gross injustice by subjecting the defendants to capital prosecutions they were entitled to avoid, and an appeal after trial would not provide an adequate remedy.
2. Standard I.1.a.'s requirement that the prosecutor file the notice within 60 days after arraignment is mandatory and contains no exception based on lack of prejudice, the defendants' knowledge that death was a potential punishment, or the availability of adequate defense preparation.
3. Standard I.1.a. is a categorical, rigid, nonjurisdictional claim-processing rule. A prosecutor's failure to meet the deadline does not eliminate the district court's subject-matter jurisdiction, but it assures relief to a defendant who timely raises the violation; the rule may be forfeited if not timely asserted.
4. When the prosecutor fails to file the notice required by Standard I.1.a. within 60 days after arraignment and the defendant timely moves to enforce the procedural safeguard, the motion to preclude the State from seeking the death penalty and to preclude imposition of the death penalty as a sentence must be granted.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the petition presented issues appropriate for resolution through a writ of supervisory control.
2. Whether Standard I.1.a. contains an exception permitting the prosecutor to file the death-penalty notice after the 60-day deadline based on lack of prejudice or the defendants' prior knowledge.
3. What consequence follows when the prosecutor fails to comply with Standard I.1.a.'s 60-day notice deadline.
4. Whether the defendants timely raised the violation so as to obtain relief.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded