Justia Constitutional Law Opinion Summaries

Articles Posted in North Dakota Supreme Court
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Sidhassan Yaqub-Sharif Isac appealed an order denying his application for post-conviction relief. Isac was born in Somalia. He came to the United States when he was eight years old and has lived in country for roughly 20 years. He was not a United States citizen. In 2020, he was charged with possession of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia, and driving under suspension. He pleaded guilty and the district court sentenced him to 360 days imprisonment. He did not appeal. At the time of his plea he had roughly 25 other convictions, including drug and alcohol related crimes. United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement subsequently detained Isac pending proceedings to deport him to Somalia. Isac filed an application for post-conviction relief seeking to withdraw his guilty plea. He alleged Fourth Amendment violations based upon the length of the traffic stop leading to the charges. He later filed an amended petition asserting he received ineffective assistance of counsel because his attorney failed to advise him of the immigration consequences of a conviction. Finding no reversible error, the North Dakota Supreme Court affirmed. View "Isac v. North Dakota" on Justia Law

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Arthur Kollie was convicted by jury of murder, robbery, and aggravated assault. In June 2021, Jane Doe was walking from her father’s home to her mother’s home in south Fargo when she was attacked in an alley. A truck driver driving through the alley saw Doe lying on the ground, unconscious, with Kollie beside her with one hand on her throat and the other hand pinching her nose. Both Doe and Kollie were covered in bloodstains. The truck driver called 911 and approached Kollie. After the truck driver told Kollie that he “need[ed] to wait for the cops,” Kollie “took off,” fleeing the scene. The medical examiner testified that Doe was stabbed 25 times then strangled. She died three days later. The autopsy report listed the cause of death as asphyxia by strangulation, complicated by multiple sharp force injuries. Kollie argued his constitutional rights to a public trial were violated when the district court held several bench conferences within view of the public, but outside the hearing of the public and without an adequate record being made available. In addition, Kollie argued the district court erred in instructing the jury on the murder count. Finding no reversible error, the North Dakota Supreme Court affirmed. View "North Dakota v. Kollie" on Justia Law

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The State appeals from a district court’s judgment granting post-conviction relief to Cassandra Black Elk. The State argues the court erred by relying on hearsay testimony and in finding defense counsel’s conduct fell below an objective standard of reasonableness when counsel advised Black Elk she could deal with the not yet disclosed results of an autopsy after her guilty plea had been entered and accepted. The court also determined Black Elk would not have pled guilty but for this improper advice from counsel. The North Dakota Supreme Court found the State failed to object and assert Black Elk’s testimony regarding the statements of her counsel were hearsay and it declined to review the issue on appeal. The district court’s finding of ineffective assistance of counsel met the factual and legal requirements under Strickland. The court’s judgment granting post-conviction relief and vacating Black Elk’s conviction was affirmed. View "Black Elk v. North Dakota" on Justia Law

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Ronald Wootan appealed a district court’s order granting summary judgment in favor of the State. Wootan was initially charged with murder, attempted murder, terrorizing, reckless endangerment, and preventing arrest or discharge of other duties. As part of a plea agreement, the State moved to amend the murder charge to manslaughter. Wootan applied for post-conviction relief, asserting he was entitled to withdraw his guilty plea due to ineffective assistance of counsel. The State moved for summary judgment. At the scheduled evidentiary hearing the district court determined the motion for summary judgment was untimely. The court exercised its discretion to allow the motion and provided Wootan the appropriate time to respond. Wootan responded to the motion and the court issued an order dismissing Wootan’s post-conviction application finding Wootan had failed to identify a material fact at issue. The North Dakota Supreme Court determined Wootan clearly asserted that, but for counsel’s misinformation about his sentences running concurrently, he would not have entered a guilty plea and instead would have insisted on going to trial. While Wootan did not provide an affidavit after the State moved for summary judgment, Wootan’s verified application for post-conviction relief could be treated as an affidavit to provide evidence to resist summary judgment. The Supreme Court concluded the district court did not err in granting summary judgment on Wootan’s claim asserting his attorney provided ineffective assistance of counsel by failing to reduce the terms of the plea agreement to writing. However, the district court erred in granting summary judgment on Wootan’s claim asserting his attorney provided ineffective assistance of counsel by stating Wootan’s sentences would run concurrently, because Wootan raised a genuine issue as to a material fact. The case was therefore remanded for the district court to hold an evidentiary hearing. View "Wootan v. North Dakota" on Justia Law

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Jered Petersen appealed a criminal judgment entered on a conditional plea of guilty to actual physical control of a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol, reserving the right to appeal the order denying his motion to suppress evidence. He argued law enforcement unlawfully trespassed into his vehicle, violating his right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures. After review, the North Dakota Supreme Court reversed, concluding law enforcement unlawfully searched Petersen’s vehicle, and remanded for further proceedings. View "North Dakota v. Petersen" on Justia Law

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Nicholas Larsen appealed orders revoking probation entered in three criminal cases. Larsen argued the district court imposed illegal sentences. In November 2020, the district court entered judgment in criminal case no. 18-2019-CR-02518 on four C felony-controlled substance violations, sentencing Larsen to 36 months’ imprisonment, all suspended except 224 days, on each count and placing him on two years of supervised probation. The same day, the court entered judgment in criminal case no. 18-2019-CR-02733 on two C felony-controlled substance violations, sentencing Larsen to 360 days’ imprisonment, all suspended except 224 days, on each count and placing him on two years of supervised probation. Again on the same day, the court entered judgment in criminal case no. 18-2020-CR-00676 on two C felony-controlled substance violations, sentencing Larsen to 36 months’ imprisonment, with all suspended except 184 days, on each count and placing him on two years of supervised probation. The State filed the underlying petitions for revocation on April 20, 2022 in all three cases, alleging violations occurred beginning in November 2021 through April 2022. In November 2022, the district court held a revocation hearing and Larsen admitted to all six allegations in the petitions. Upon revocation, the court resentenced Larsen to 36 months’ imprisonment with credit for the respective time served. The sentences were concurrent on the three cases on appeal, but consecutive to a newly filed case, case no. 09-2022-CR-02257, a Cass County controlled substance possession with intent conspiracy conviction. The North Dakota Supreme Court determined Larsen’s criminal convictions and sentencing occurred prior to a August 2021 amendment to the law under which he was charged. Applying the new version of the statute to Larsen’s November 23, 2022 revocations and resentencing would be a retroactive application of the August 2021 amendment to resentence Larsen to a greater penalty than he could have been resentenced to before the statute’s amendment. The Court affirmed the orders for revocation in criminal case nos. 18-2019-CR- 02518 and 18-2020-CR-00676. The Court reversed and remanded for resentencing in criminal case no. 18-2019-CR-02733. View "North Dakota v. Larsen" on Justia Law

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The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (“DOCR”) petitioned the North Dakota Supreme Court to exercise its original supervisory jurisdiction to direct the Honorable Judge Stacy Louser (hereinafter “district court”) to amend a portion of a criminal judgment imposing probation as part of a sentence for a class B misdemeanor and requiring the DOCR to supervise the probation. The DOCR argued it does not have statutory authority to supervise probation when the underlying charge was a class B misdemeanor. The DOCR requested the criminal judgment be amended to relieve the DOCR from the obligation to supervise the probation. Without deciding whether the district court has the authority to require a defendant to be supervised by the DOCR as part of a sentence imposed for a class B misdemeanor, the Supreme Court concluded the DOCR did have the authority to provide the supervision and declined to exercise supervisory jurisdiction. View "DOCR v. Louser, et al." on Justia Law

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Darrell Redpaint appealed an order summarily denying his application for postconviction relief. In 1981, Redpaint was convicted of two counts of murder. The judgment of conviction was affirmed on direct appeal. Redpaint applied for postconviction relief at least eight times prior to this application. In May 2022, he argued the court in his underlying criminal case lacked jurisdiction because he was a juvenile at the time of the crimes. The State answered, alleging his juvenile status did not preclude his convictions and the application was barred by the statute of limitations and res judicata. Redpaint opposed the motion, arguing an evidentiary hearing was necessary because there were genuine issues of material fact as to whether Redpaint received effective assistance of trial counsel and notice of the hearing transferring him from juvenile court in his underlying criminal case. The court granted the State’s motion for summary judgment and summarily denied Redpaint’s application, concluding the application was untimely and barred by res judicata and misuse of process, and there were no genuine issues of material fact. Redpaint argues the district court erred in allowing the State to move for summary judgment “after the time for raising affirmative defenses had expired.” Finding no reversible error in the summary denial of the application, the North Dakota Supreme Court affirmed. View "Redpaint v. North Dakota" on Justia Law

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Jeremy Knight appealed the denial of his motion to vacate the criminal judgment and for a new trial and a criminal judgment entered after a jury found him guilty of gross sexual imposition. Jury deliberations began on the second day of trial around 11:30 a.m. Less than an hour into jury deliberations, the jury posed a number of questions to the district court. The court answered the questions without objection. A short time later, the jury had another question which the court answered without objection. At 1:34 p.m., the court received another note from the jury that made the court aware of a deadlocked jury on both counts. The handwritten note used the phrase “verdict form” and showed the numerical division of both counts being deadlocked at 8–4 and 9–3. The court then stated to the jury: "I’m going to indicate to the jury that I’m going to send you back into the jury room. You’ve got to continue to work to try and get to unanimous verdict. ... So I need you to go back, kind of review the evidence again and try and come to unanimous verdict and then we’ll move from there." On appeal, Knight argued the district court erred in instructing the jury to reach a verdict after learning of the numerical division of the deadlocked jury. He also argued the court erred in denying his motion to vacate judgment and for a new trial. Finding no reversible error or abuse of discretion, the North Dakota Supreme Court affirmed. View "North Dakota v. Knight" on Justia Law

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Charles Brame appealed his conviction on two counts of sexual assault. Brame argued the district court failed to abide by Rule 11 of the North Dakota Rules of Criminal Procedure and was biased in sentencing him. The North Dakota Supreme Court retained jurisdiction and remanded to provide the State an opportunity to file any relevant transcripts which might show the district court substantially complied with Rule 11. View "North Dakota v. Brame" on Justia Law