Brewer v. State

Summary

The North Dakota Supreme Court affirmed an order granting Michael Brewer post-conviction relief and a new trial on two gross sexual imposition convictions. The court held that counsel provided ineffective assistance by failing to renew an objection at trial to prior-act evidence potentially inadmissible under N.D.R.Ev. 404(b), thereby denying the district court an opportunity to reconsider the evidence in the trial context. The court also concluded that the prejudice affected both convictions.

Holdings

1. An attorney’s failure to object when evidence is offered at trial, based on reliance on the record made during a pretrial motion in limine, is a basic legal error falling below an objective standard of reasonable professional assistance under Strickland.
2. Brewer established prejudice because the prior-bad-acts interview was not cumulative, created a significant risk of propensity reasoning, was admitted without the required Rule 404(b) analysis and Rule 403 balancing, and undermined confidence in the verdict.
3. The district court properly granted relief on both gross-sexual-imposition convictions because the prior-bad-acts evidence relating to one victim could prejudice the jury’s determination of guilt on the charge involving the other victim.

Questions Presented

1. Whether trial counsel provided ineffective assistance by failing to renew at trial an objection to prior-bad-acts evidence after the pretrial motion in limine was denied.
2. Whether Brewer established prejudice under Strickland when the unobjected-to evidence was admitted without the required contextual Rule 404(b) analysis and Rule 403 balancing.
3. Whether post-conviction relief should apply to both gross-sexual-imposition convictions even though the prior-bad-acts evidence directly involved only one victim.

Disposition

affirmed