Petition of Brockmueller

374 N.W.2d 135, 1985 S.D. LEXIS 350
CourtSouth Dakota Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 6, 1985
Docket14740
StatusPublished
Cited by30 cases

This text of 374 N.W.2d 135 (Petition of Brockmueller) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering South Dakota Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Petition of Brockmueller, 374 N.W.2d 135, 1985 S.D. LEXIS 350 (S.D. 1985).

Opinions

WOLLMAN, Justice.

This is an appeal by the state from an order of the trial court that granted Scott Brockmueller’s petition for a writ of error coram nobis and vacated Brockmueller’s conviction on a third offense driving while intoxicated charge. We affirm and remand.

On February 4, 1981, Brockmueller was convicted in Turner County, South Dakota, of DWI. On May 27, 1981, Brockmueller was convicted in Yankton County, South Dakota, of DWI. In neither of these cases was an information filed by the state.

On February 19, 1982, Brockmueller was arrested for DWI in Clay County, South Dakota. He was indicted by a Clay County Grand Jury on March 26, 1982. On March 31, 1982, the state filed a Part II information charging Brockmueller with a Class 6 felony based upon his two prior DWI convictions. SDCL 32-23-4.

Brockmueller was convicted by a jury on June 4, 1982, on the principal DWI offense. On July 22, 1982, Brockmueller admitted the convictions contained in the Part II information and was sentenced to one year in the county jail, with nine months suspended on certain conditions, and placed on probation for a period of two years. No post-conviction proceedings were initiated by Brockmueller.

[137]*137On April 20, 1983, we held in Honomichl v. State, 333 N.W.2d 797, 798 (S.D.1983), that a court cannot acquire subject matter jurisdiction over a DWI offense unless a “formal and sufficient indictment or information” is filed. Consequently, on January 26, 1984, and February 1, 1984, Brockmuel-ler’s DWI convictions in Turner County and Yankton County were, upon application to the respective magistrate courts, vacated due to lack of subject matter jurisdiction.

On July 27, 1984, Brockmueller petitioned the Clay County circuit court for a writ of error noram Nobis seeking to vacate his Class 6 felony conviction on the ground that his two prior DWI convictions were void and had been vacated. It is from the order granting the petition that the state appeals.

Coram nobis is an extraordinary writ of common law origin. United States v. Morgan, 346 U.S. 502, 507, 74 S.Ct. 247, 250, 98 L.Ed. 248, 254 (1954). See also Fanning v. State, 85 S.D. 246, 249, 180 N.W.2d 853, 854 (1970). It has been held that

[t]he jurisdiction of a court to grant relief under it is of limited scope. Any proceeding which is challenged by the writ is presumed to be correct and the burden rests on its assailant to show otherwise. United States v. Morgan, 346 U.S. 502, 512, 74 S.Ct. 247, 98 L.Ed. 248 (1954). Only where there are errors of fact of “the most fundamental kind, that is, such as to render the proceeding itself irregular and invalid,” can redress be had. Relief will be granted only when circumstances compel such action “to achieve justice.” United States v. Morgan, supra, 346 U.S. p. 511, 74 S.Ct. p. 252.

United States v. Cariola, 323 F.2d 180, 184 (3rd Cir.1963) (quoted with approval in Byrnes v. United States, 408 F.2d 599, 602 (9th Cir.1969) (citations omitted)). See also United States v. Scherer, 673 F.2d 176, 178 (7th Cir.1982).

Generally, this extraordinary writ is only available to attack convictions involving collateral legal disadvantages which survive the satisfaction of a sentence. Byrnes v. United States, supra, citing (United States v. Morgan, supra). See United States v. Scherer, supra. More importantly, statutory remedies must be unavailable or inadequate before a petition for coram nobis relief can be granted. Correa-Negron v. United States, 473 F.2d 684, 685 (5th Cir.1973); United States v. Katz, 494 F.Supp. 1287, 1291 (M.D.Fla.1980).

The principal questions on appeal are (1) whether the writ of coram nobis is available in South Dakota, and (2) whether the facts of this case warrant its application.

SDCL 1-1-24 provides in pertinent part: “In this state the rules of the common law ... are in force, except where they conflict with the will of the sovereign power, expressed in the manner stated in § 1-1-23.” SDCL 1-1-23 reads:

The will of the sovereign power is expressed:
(1) By the Constitution of the United States;
(2) By treaties made under the authority of the United States;
(3) By statutes enacted by the Congress of the United States;
(4) By the Constitution of this state;
(5) By statutes enacted by the Legislature;
(6) By statutes enacted by vote of the electors;
(7) By the ordinances of authorized subordinate bodies;
(8) Rules of practice and procedure prescribed by courts or adopted by departments, commission's, boards, officers of the state or its subdivisions pursuant to authority so to do.

Thus, to the extent not supplanted under the provisions of SDCL 1-1-23, the rules of the common law apply. The state contends that the legislature has preempted the writ of coram nobis by enacting statutes that govern the vacating of judgments. We disagree.

[138]*138In 1966 the legislature enacted the Uniform Post Conviction Procedure Act, SDCL ch. 23A-34, providing in part:

[T]his chapter comprehends and takes the place of all other common law, or statutory or other remedies which have heretofore been available for challenging the validity of a conviction or sentence, and shall be used exclusively in place of them.

SDCL 23A-34-2.

In Fanning v. State, supra, this court construed the Act as, inter alia, preempting the common law writ of coram nobis. 85 S.D. at 249, 180 N.W.2d at 854. There is no question that pursuant to the Act Brockmueller could have obtained the relief he presently seeks. In 1983, however, the legislature repealed the Post Conviction Procedure Act, 1983 S.D.Sess.Laws ch. 169, § 15, incorporating it in large part within the Habeas Corpus Act as amended in 1983. SDCL ch. 21-27. The writ of habeas corpus will be issued only if the applicant is imprisoned or restrained of his liberty. Moeller v. Solemn, 363 N.W.2d 412, 414 (S.D.1985) (citing Application of Painter, 85 S.D.

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Petition of Brockmueller
374 N.W.2d 135 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1985)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
374 N.W.2d 135, 1985 S.D. LEXIS 350, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/petition-of-brockmueller-sd-1985.