State ex rel. Glover v. State

Decision Date05 September 1995
Parties93-2330 La
CourtLouisiana Supreme Court

Elizabeth W. Cole, Christa Hohmann, for applicant Ronald Glover.

Ronald Glover, pro se.

Richard P. Ieyoub, Attorney General, Harry F. Connick, District Attorney, Jack Peebles, Asst. Dist. Attorney, for respondent.

Keith Baker Nordyke, June E. Denlinger, for amici curiae George Elliott, O'Neil Ginn, Isidor Lopez, David Nealy, Timothy Morris, Norris Henderson, Stanley A. Smith, Checo Yancy, Edward Smith, Danny Sermon, George Witherspoon, Lue Sullivan, Beryl Carter, Gordon Bradford.

Ellis Paul Adams, Jr., Richard G. Munson, for amicus curiae Louisiana District Attorneys Association.

Robert L. Odinet, for amicus curiae State of Louisiana.

[93-2330 La. 1] KIMBALL, Justice. *

We granted certiorari and consolidated these three cases to resolve the issue of the constitutionality of the time limit for mounting collateral attacks on final convictions found in La.C.Cr.P.[93-2330 La. 2] art. 930.8. Petitioners and amici curiae 1 allege La.C.Cr.P. art. 930.8 violates the United States and Louisiana Constitutions. With respect to the federal Constitution, each claims Art. 930.8 violates the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, the Habeas Corpus Clause of Art. I, § 9, and the Ex Post Facto Clause of Art. 1, § 10. Regarding the Louisiana Constitution of 1974, petitioners and amici argue Art. 930.8 unconstitutionally suspends the writ of habeas corpus in violation of La. Const. art. I, § 21; violates the prohibition against ex post facto laws in Art. I, § 23, and deprives petitioners of their rights to due process and access to courts under La Const. art. I, §§ 2 and 22. After analyzing Art. 930.8 along with relevant constitutional provisions and jurisprudential authorities, we conclude its limitations period violates neither the United States Constitution nor the Louisiana Constitution of 1974.

I. FACTS

On January 30, 1985, Ronald Glover pleaded guilty to three counts of aggravated crime against nature, three counts of armed robbery, three counts of forcible rape, four counts of simple kidnapping, and one count of attempted armed robbery. He received concurrent sentences totalling forty years at hard labor. On February 25, 1992, Glover filed a petition for post conviction relief in the Orleans Parish Criminal District Court. The district court denied his application on the merits on September 24, 1992, and Glover applied to the Louisiana Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal. On July 27, 1993, the court of appeal denied review of the judgment below, holding Glover's application had been untimely filed pursuant to the time bar in La.C.Cr.P. art. 930.8. State ex rel. Glover v. State, 93-1318 (La.App. 4th Cir.1993). We granted certiorari, State ex rel. Glover v. State, 93-2330 (La. 11/18/94), [93-2330 La. 3] 646 So.2d 363, to decide whether the time limitations period of Art. 930.8 may be asserted by the state at any level of review, even when the district court has previously entertained a postconviction application on the merits.

Marvin Young pleaded guilty on June 25, 1990 to possession of stolen things. He was not sentenced by the district court, however, until January 29, 1991, several months after Art. 930.8 became effective on October 1, 1990. Young subsequently filed an application for post conviction relief on May 2, 1994, but his application was denied by the district court. The Louisiana Second Circuit Court of Appeal denied relief pursuant to La.C.Cr.P. art. 930.8 on June 30, 1994. State v. Young, 26701 (La.App. 2d Cir. 6/30/94). We granted certiorari, State v. Young, 94-2101 (La. 11/18/94), 646 So.2d 362, to settle the question of whether the three-year limit of Art. 930.8 may be applied prospectively to all inmates whose convictions and sentences became final after October 1, 1990. We also granted certiorari in this matter to answer the question of whether Art. 930.8(C), which requires the district court to give the defendant notice of the time limit, creates an enforceable right on behalf of an individual who was not told of the deadline in Art. 930.8.

Lester Carl Wright was convicted of armed robbery on June 5, 1987. Wright filed an application for post conviction relief on May 13, 1994. The district court denied his application, after concluding the application was procedurally barred by La.C.Cr.P. art. 930.8. The Louisiana Second Circuit Court of Appeal denied relief. State ex rel. Wright v. Whitley, 26789 (La.App. 2d Cir. 7/21/94), 641 So.2d 631. We granted certiorari, State v. Wright, 94-2197 (La. 11/18/94), 646 So.2d 362, to settle the issue of whether Art. 930.8 applies retroactively to convictions which became final before October 1, 1990. This date is important because the legislature provided a one-year period, from October 1, 1990 to October 1, 1991, for petitioners whose applications would have already been barred on October 1, 1990 to file applications for post conviction relief.

[93-2330 La. 4] II. CONSTITUTIONAL ANALYSIS

A. Article 930.8

Louisiana Acts 1990, No. 1023 § 1, added La.C.Cr.P. art. 930.8 to Title XXXI-A of the Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure. 2 Article 930.8(A) provides that no application for post conviction relief shall be considered if it is filed more than three years after the judgment of conviction and sentence has become final, unless certain exceptions apply. Those exceptions cover situations in which: (1) the petitioner has proven, or the state has admitted, the existence of new facts; (2) an appellate court has announced a [93-2330 La. 5] ruling setting up a new constitutional rule which applies retroactively, and the petitioner files his petition within one year of the ruling; or (3) the petitioner has been sentenced to death. As previously mentioned, the statute also contains a one-year grace period which gave petitioners whose applications would have been barred on October 1, 1990 until October 1, 1991 to file an application for post conviction relief. Article 930.8(B) provides that an application may be dismissed if it is filed within the three-year period, or beyond that limit but within one of the exceptions, when the occurrence of events not under the control of the state has prejudiced the state's ability to respond to the petition. Article 930.8(C) requires the sentencing court to inform the defendant of the prescriptive period for post conviction relief.

B. Federal Due Process Clause

Petitioners and amici argue Art. 930.8 violates their rights under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. While the United States Supreme Court has yet to address directly the issue of whether the United States Constitution requires states to provide post conviction remedies adequate to protect the federal constitutional rights of persons convicted in state criminal proceedings, it implied as much in Young v. Ragen, 337 U.S. 235, 69 S.Ct. 1073, 93 L.Ed. 1333 (1949) and Case v. Nebraska, 381 U.S. 336, 85 S.Ct. 1486, 14 L.Ed.2d 422 (1965). 3

[93-2330 La. 6] However, a careful review of subsequent United States Supreme Court jurisprudence reveals the United States Constitution imposes no such requirement. Beginning with its decision in United States v. MacCollom, 426 U.S. 317, 96 S.Ct. 2086, 48 L.Ed.2d 666 (1976), the United States Supreme Court began its retreat from the views expressed in dicta in Young and began to lay the seeds for its current view that the federal constitution does not require states to provide post conviction remedies for the vindication of federal rights. In MacCollom, a federal post conviction case, the Supreme Court upheld the validity of 28 U.S.C. § 753, a federal statute requiring movants under 28 U.S.C. § 2255 (the principal federal post-conviction remedy for persons convicted in a federal district court) to show both a particularized need and nonfrivolousness in order to obtain a free trial transcript. In dictum, Justice Rehnquist, writing for a four justice plurality, stated:

[93-2330 La. 7] The Due Process Clause ... does not establish any right to an appeal ... and certainly does not establish any right to collaterally attack a final judgment of conviction.

See MacCollom, 426 U.S. at 322, 96 S.Ct. at 2090.

MacCollom's seminal role in the development of the Court's view on this issue became apparent, a decade later, when the Supreme Court decided Pennsylvania v. Finley, 481 U.S. 551, 107 S.Ct. 1990, 95 L.Ed.2d 539 (1987). In Finley, a case involving a state prisoner seeking state post conviction relief, the Court concluded the United States Constitution does not require the states to appoint counsel to represent indigents in any state post conviction relief proceeding. With respect to post conviction relief in general, Chief Justice Rehnquist, writing for the Court, declared "states have no obligation" to provide post conviction relief, but when states do choose to provide such a remedy, the Due Process Clause does not require that the state supply a lawyer as well. Finley, 481 U.S. at 557, 107 S.Ct. at 1994.

Finally, in Murray v. Giarratano, 492 U.S. 1, 109 S.Ct. 2765, 106 L.Ed.2d 1 (1989), the Supreme Court extended Finley to capital cases by holding that the United States Constitution does not require the appointment of counsel to represent applicants for post conviction relief in capital cases. Chief Justice Rehnquist, writing for a plurality, stated:

We think that these cases require the conclusion that the rule of Pennsylvania v. Finley should apply no differently in capital cases than in noncapital cases. State collateral proceedings are not constitutionally required as an adjunct to the state criminal proceedings and serve a different and more limited purpose than either the trial or appeal.

Murray, 492 U.S. at 10...

To continue reading

Request your trial
5711 cases
  • Matthews v. Cain, CIVIL ACTION NO. 15-430
    • United States
    • United States District Courts. 5th Circuit. United States District Court (Eastern District of Louisiana)
    • August 29, 2018
    ...relief, the Louisiana Supreme Court stated: "Denied. La. C. Cr. P. art. 930.8 ; State ex rel. Glover v. State, 93-2330 (La. 9/5/95), 660 So.2d 1189. See also State ex rel. Hall v. State, 99-0326 (La. 9/24/99), 871 So.2d 1071." Again, all of those citations concern procedural matters. Articl......
  • Woodfox v. Cain
    • United States
    • United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (5th Circuit)
    • June 21, 2010
    ...for post conviction relief should be allowed to amend a timely filed but poorly drafted application. State ex rel. Glover v. State, 660 So.2d 1189, 1197 n. 8 (La.1995), abrogated on other grounds, State ex rel. Olivieri v. State, 779 So.2d 735, 742 (La.2001). Only “[i]nexcusable failure” to......
  • Winward v. State, 20101005.
    • United States
    • Supreme Court of Utah
    • December 7, 2012
    ...our state suspension clause's enactment as defining the privilege protected by our state constitution.”); State ex rel. Glover v. State, 660 So.2d 1189, 1196 (La.1995) (same), abrogated on other grounds by State ex rel. Olivieri v. State, 779 So.2d 735 (La.2001). 15.See In re Whitmore, 9 Ut......
  • State v. Nelson
    • United States
    • Court of Appeal of Louisiana (US)
    • November 10, 2021
    ...the trial court has considered the merits of the application. See State ex rel. Glover v. State , 93-2330, 94-2101, 94-2197 (La. 9/5/95), 660 So.2d 1189, abrogated in part on other grounds by State ex rel. Olivieri v. State , 00-172, 00-1767 (La. 2/21/01), 779 So.2d 735, cert. denied , 533 ......
  • Request a trial to view additional results

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT