Summary
The Montana Supreme Court affirmed the denial of Bryce Everett Peterson’s petition for postconviction relief. The court held that the petition was untimely because Peterson’s conviction became final when his direct appeal was dismissed, and it rejected his reliance on the newly discovered evidence exception as unsupported. The court also concluded that certain ineffective-assistance claims were barred by res judicata or were otherwise time-barred.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether Peterson's petition for postconviction relief was timely under Montana Code Annotated § 46-21-102(1).
- Whether Peterson established newly discovered evidence sufficient to invoke the exception in Montana Code Annotated § 46-21-102(2).
Holdings
- A conviction entered upon an Alford guilty plea becomes final when the defendant's direct-appeal remedies expire or are exhausted, and a later motion to withdraw the plea does not toll or extend the deadline for filing a postconviction petition. Peterson's conviction became final on November 5, 2010, making his December 17, 2014 petition untimely.
- Peterson failed to provide factual support showing that the purported evidence qualified as newly discovered evidence that, if proved and viewed in light of the evidence as a whole, would establish that he did not engage in the criminal conduct for which he was convicted.
Key quotations
“Thus, the deadlines for moving to withdraw a guilty plea and petitioning for postconviction relief run concurrently from the exhaustion or expiration of a defendant’s right to direct appeal from the conviction.” (¶ 9)
“Because Peterson failed to provide factual support for his claim of newly discovered evidence, we conclude that the exception of § 46-21-102(2), MCA, does not excuse Peterson’s failure to timely file his petition for postconviction relief.” (¶ 20)
Factual background
Peterson was charged with violent assault and kidnapping and entered Alford guilty pleas on the eve of trial. The district court sentenced him to seventy years in prison with twenty years suspended. After dismissing his direct appeal and unsuccessfully seeking withdrawal of his pleas, Peterson filed a postconviction petition alleging evidentiary, discovery, prosecutorial-misconduct, and ineffective-assistance claims, including purported newly discovered police reports concerning the victim.
Procedural history
Peterson pleaded guilty under North Carolina v. Alford and was sentenced in 2009. He filed a direct appeal, voluntarily dismissed it, later moved to withdraw his pleas, and the Montana Supreme Court affirmed denial of that motion in 2013. He filed the present postconviction petition in December 2014; the district court rejected the State's timeliness argument but denied relief on the merits. The Montana Supreme Court held the petition untimely and affirmed the denial on the right-result, wrong-reason rationale.