Maxey v. State

596 N.E.2d 908, 1992 Ind. App. LEXIS 1118, 1992 WL 165130
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedJuly 20, 1992
Docket49A02-9008-PC-454
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 596 N.E.2d 908 (Maxey v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Maxey v. State, 596 N.E.2d 908, 1992 Ind. App. LEXIS 1118, 1992 WL 165130 (Ind. Ct. App. 1992).

Opinion

BAKER, Judge.

Veteran pro se petitioner-appellant and political activist James E. Maxey appeals the denial of his fifth petition for post-conviction relief. We gather Mr. Maxey takes issue with the legal concepts of waiver and res judicata, among other things. Succeinetly stated, we affirm.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

On September 16, 1974, after an argument, James Maxey asked his wife Ellen whether she would return home with him. When she refused, he drew a pistol and shot her in the stomach. He then took careful aim and shot her in the head, killing her. After two court-appointed psychiatrists found him competent to stand trial, and after the trial itself, a jury rejected his claim of self-defense and convicted Maxey of first degree murder. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. 2

Maxey's conviction was affirmed by our supreme court on direct appeal. Maxey v. State (1976), 265 Ind. 244, 353 N.E.2d 457 (Maxey I). He then began his sixteen year quest for post-conviction relief because "he wanted his issues reviewed in his first appeal and useing the unalienable rights the architects of our republic wrote in the mag-nificant words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independance and the First Amendance that reads, in parts, 'To petition the Government for a redress of grie-nances'." Brief of Appellant at 12 3 At the outset, we note Maxey "wishes to make it very clear that he does not intend to raise, or argue the issue of his guilt or innocense but argue his constitutional right to a fair trial." Record at 158.

Maxey's first post-conviction relief petition, filed pro se, challenged the trial court's determination that he was competent to assist in his defense and asserted the discovery of new evidence: previously forgotten matrimonial strife which may have contributed to his mental instability. In this petition, Maxey swore under penalty of perjury that his petition contained "every ground known to [him] for vacating, setting aside or correcting the conviction and sentence attacked in this motion...." Record at 117. The first post-conviction court denied his petition and our supreme court affirmed the denial in Maxey v. State (1978), 269 Ind. 224, 379 N.E.2d 465 (Maxey II).

Maxey's second petition, again filed pro se, alleged an incomplete psychiatric evaluation, the wrongful suppression of evidence, the wrongful introduction of irrelevant evidence, prosecutorial misconduct, the ineffective assistance of trial and appel *910 late counsel, the denial of his right to a public trial because of exclusion of his family and political associates, and the sentencing court's lack of jurisdiction. He also listed as bases for relief "Groundless arguments causing inference from the established facts," and "Using coarse rhetoric to infamy - defendant's - political - views." Record at 158, 166. After a hearing, the second post-conviction court found all claims were waived for failure to raise them in either his direct appeal or first petition for post-conviction relief. Record at 167-71. He took no appeal.

Maxey's third petition again claimed the ineffective assistance of counsel, prosecuto-rial misconduct, the denial of a public trial, and the wrongful introduction of irrelevant evidence. He insisted his psychiatric evaluation was incomplete and he was generally denied a fair trial. After a hearing, the third post-conviction court found all claims were waived for failure to raise them in either his direct appeal or first petition for post-conviction relief. Record at 285-40. Six months later, our supreme court denied Maxey's motion to undertake a belated appeal. Record at 207-08.

Maxey's fourth petition, which is not in-eluded in our record of proceedings, apparently claimed the ineffective assistance of trial and post-conviction counsel, constitutional violations, and newly discovered evidence. Record at 270. The fourth post conviction court summarily denied the petition, and again, Maxey took no appeal.

On May 1, 1989, Maxey filed his fifth petition. He argued 1) he waived nothing in his earlier petitions because of his incompetence, 2) he found newly discovered evidence, 3) he received ineffective assistance of counsel, and 4) he uncovered a jury conflict of interest. After a hearing, the fifth post-conviction court rejected the first three claims but allowed Maxey 90 days to present evidence on the jury conflict of interest issue. Record at 415-18. After Maxey failed to present any evidence on the subject after 90 days, the fifth post-conviction court denied his petition. Maxey now appeals.

DISCUSSION

Waiver and Res Judicata

Much to Maxey's considerable ire, the fifth post-conviction court relied heavily on the doctrines of waiver and res judicata in denying Maxey's fifth post-conviction relief petition. Before turning to Maxey's appellate arguments, we deem it appropriate to review briefly waiver and res judicata in the post-conviction relief context.

"The purpose of the post-conviction relief process is to raise issues not known at the time of the original trial and appeal or for some reason not available to the defendant at that time." Schiro v. State (1989), Ind., 533 N.E.2d 1201, 1204, cert. denied, 493 U.S. 910, 110 S.Ct. 268, 107 L.Ed.2d 218. Our rules of post-conviction procedure require all grounds for relief available to a petitioner be raised in the original petition. The rationales underlying the rule are apparent: controversies must eventually cease (the principle of finality), and judicial resources, being scarce, must not be squandered. From these two requirements arise the legal concepts of waiver and res judicata. See Mickens v. State (1991), Ind.App., 579 N.E.2d 615.

In the seminal opinion of Langley v. State (1971), 256 Ind. 199, 203, 267 N.E.2d 538, 540, Justice Hunter observed the rules of post-conviction relief were "not ... in-ten[ded] ... to provide a means whereby one convicted could repeatedly re-litigate claims of improper conviction, or could un-qualifiedly, upon a legitimate waiver of the right to appeal ... raise an untimely challenge directed at some aspect of the proceedings against him." (Original emphasis.) Accordingly, our supreme court established the modern rule that waiver is an affirmative defense to a petition for post-conviction relief. Acknowledging that "in the name of justice and fair play ... each defendant [should] have an avenue available by which he may challenge on appeal the correctness of his conviction," id., the court also noted it "ha[d] a vested interest in guarding against prostitution of the spirit of criminal justice through sanctioned 'multi-appeals'...." Id. Thus, the *911 court adopted the mechanism of waiver: issues available for review on direct appeal, if not pursued, are waived for post-conviection review. Mickens, supra.

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Bluebook (online)
596 N.E.2d 908, 1992 Ind. App. LEXIS 1118, 1992 WL 165130, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/maxey-v-state-indctapp-1992.