Murray v. State

776 P.2d 206, 1989 Wyo. LEXIS 157, 1989 WL 67582
CourtWyoming Supreme Court
DecidedJune 21, 1989
Docket87-177
StatusPublished
Cited by43 cases

This text of 776 P.2d 206 (Murray v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wyoming Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Murray v. State, 776 P.2d 206, 1989 Wyo. LEXIS 157, 1989 WL 67582 (Wyo. 1989).

Opinions

CARDINE, Chief Justice.

Appellant, Peter Kole Murray, seeks review of the district court’s order dismissing his petition for post-conviction relief. We affirm.

On January 18, 1983, a jury found Murray guilty of the crime of attempted sexual assault felony murder. Murray appealed that conviction, and we affirmed in Murray v. State, 671 P.2d 320 (Wyo.1983). The facts of the case are set out in that opinion. On August 19,1986, Murray filed, pro se, a petition for post-conviction relief which raised three issues:

“[I] The petitioner was denied his rights under the Sixth Amendment to a fair and impartial jury in Lincoln County, Wyoming, due to extensive pretrial publicity.
“[II] The petitioner was denied his rights under the Sixth Amendment: and, the due process and equal protection clauses of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments: and, his rights under the Sixth Amendment to effective assistance of counsel when he was not provided the best defense available, a complete defense, and when the trial court repelled his right to assert complete defense which defense was best defense available.
“[Ill] The petitioner was denied his rights under the due process and equal protection clauses of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments when the prosecution knowingly entered fraudulent evidence.”

In addition to raising these issues, Murray asked that counsel be appointed to represent him and that he be permitted to amend his petition and raise additional issues after consultation with counsel.

An attorney was appointed to represent Murray and an amended petition for post-conviction relief was filed on December 2, 1986. The amended petition incorporated by reference the pro se petition and raised five issues:

i. Refusal of Murray’s Motion for Change of Venue denied him his right to a fair and impartial jury.
ii. The evidence presented to the jury was insufficient to sustain the jury’s finding of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
iii. Wyoming’s felony murder statute operates in such a manner as to allow a conclusive presumption on the issues of malice and premeditation and thus violates the rule of law enunciated in Sandstrom v. Montana, 442 U.S. 510, 99 S.Ct. 2450, 61 L.Ed.2d 39 (1979).
[208]*208iv. The trial court’s refusal of an involuntary intoxication instruction denied Murray his constitutional right to a fair trial.
v. Murray was denied the effective assistance of counsel both at the trial stage and in the prosecution of his appeal to the Wyoming Supreme Court.

On June 16, 1987, the district court entered its order denying relief. On June 26, 1987, Murray filed a timely notice of appeal, and in his brief in this court he raised eight issues:

“1. Whether Appellant was afforded effective assistance of counsel during his trial or his appeal to the Wyoming Supreme Court.
“2. Whether the trial court erroneously denied Appellant’s challenge for cause when eight jurors stated they would disregard the Court’s instruction concerning the presumption of innocence and impose burden to prove his innocence on Appellant.
“3. Whether the introduction of Appellant’s statements to law enforcement personnel was reversible error.
“4. Whether the use of a conclusive presumption to convict Appellant of first degree murder is plain error and requires reversal of the conviction.
“5. Whether it was error to allow the testimony of Dr. Cline.
“6. Whether the trial court’s refusal to instruct the jury upon the defense of involuntary intoxication deprived Appellant of his constitutional right to have all questions of fact resolved by the jury.
“7. Whether Appellant was denied his right of confrontation by the admission of numerous statements made by the decedent.
“8. Whether Appellant was denied the effective assistance of counsel when neither Sonya Martin was called to testify nor her out of court statements introduced into evidence pursuant to Rule 804 of the Wyoming Rules of Evidence.”

Post-conviction relief, governed by W.S. 7-14-101 et seq., performs the same limited function as did the writ of coram nobis. It is not a substitute for direct appeal and is limited to review of specific types of error. 18 Am.Jur.2d Coram Nobis § 45, at 673 (1985). Post-conviction relief is an extraordinary authorization to seek relief under circumstances which suggest a “miscarriage of justice.” Cutbirth v. State, 751 P.2d 1257, 1261 (Wyo.1988). The substance of a fair trial must be missing in order to justify its application. Id.; State ex rel. Hopkinson v. District Court, Teton County, 696 P.2d 54, 64 (Wyo.1985); Johnson v. State, 592 P.2d 285 (Wyo.1979).

Because the relief intended to be provided by the post-conviction procedure is extraordinary, we have imposed some rather strict limitations on the issues which may be raised in the procedure. Issues which have been or could have been raised on appeal are not open to challenge by a petition for post-conviction relief because they are foreclosed by the doctrine of res judicata. Cutbirth, 751 P.2d at 1261; Hopkinson, 696 P.2d at 64. Moreover, W.S. 7-14-103 provides that any claim of substantial denial of constitutional rights not raised in the original or an amended petition is waived.

We proceed to apply these rules to the issues raised by appellant in this court. Issues enumerated 2, 3, 5, 7 and 8 were not raised in the trial court and were thus waived. W.S. 7-14-103. We will not consider these issues on appeal. Issue enumerated 2 is really a variation of an issue raised in his original appeal which asserted that the trial court erroneously denied his motion for change of venue. Murray v. State, 671 P.2d at 325-27. We explored the issue in detail in that opinion, including the variation raised as issue 2 in this appeal. Although appellant’s failure to raise the issue in the district court is dispositive, we note this additional reason why issue 2 must be rejected.

Appellant asserts ineffective assistance of trial counsel in the first half of issue enumerated 1. The issue of effective assistance of counsel at the trial level and issues enumerated 4 and 6 are issues which could have been raised in appellant’s original appeal to this court, and we will, there[209]*209fore, not consider them in the context of a post-conviction procedure. Cutbirth, 751 P.2d at 1261-62.

As in Cutbirth, we are finally left with the issue of ineffective assistance of appellate counsel. Cutbirth was decided after this case had been processed through the trial court. The trial court, therefore, did not have the benefit of the test we formulated for determining claims of ineffective assistance of appellate counsel, that test being:

“In submitting a claim of deficient representation by appellate counsel, the petitioner in the post-conviction proceeding must demonstrate to the district court, by reference to the record of the original trial without resort to speculation or equivocal inference, what occurred at that trial.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
776 P.2d 206, 1989 Wyo. LEXIS 157, 1989 WL 67582, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/murray-v-state-wyo-1989.