Descharme v. State

• Decision Date: 29 November 2022
• Docket Number: 48879
• Parties: MICHELLE RENE DESCHARME, Petitioner-Appellant, v. STATE OF IDAHO, Respondent.
• Court: Idaho Court of Appeals

MICHELLE RENE DESCHARME, Petitioner-Appellant,
v.
STATE OF IDAHO, Respondent.

No. 48879

Court of Appeals of Idaho

November 29, 2022

UNPUBLISHED OPINION

Appeal from the District Court of the Fifth Judicial District, State of Idaho, Twin Falls County. Hon. Benjamin J. Cluff, District Judge.

Judgment dismissing amended petition for post-conviction relief, affirmed.

Michelle Rene Descharme, Boise, pro se appellant.

Hon. Lawrence G. Wasden, Attorney General; Kale D. Gans, Deputy Attorney General, Boise, for respondent.

HUSKEY, JUDGE.

Michelle Rene Descharme appeals from the district court's judgment dismissing her amended petition for post-conviction relief. Because Descharme did not identify any specific error by the district court, did not support her claims with authority or citation to the record, and failed to establish that her attorney rendered deficient performance and she was prejudiced by the alleged deficient performance, the district court did not err and the judgment dismissing Descharme's amended petition is affirmed.

I.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Descharme was charged with multiple cases in Twin Falls County. During the pendency of the Twin Falls County cases, Descharme also had felony charges pending in Bannock, Bingham, Minidoka, and Ada Counties. Pursuant to a plea agreement, Descharme entered guilty pleas in two Twin Falls County cases; in the first case, she pleaded guilty to issuing a check without funds,

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and in the second case, she pleaded guilty to forgery with a persistent violator enhancement. Following the entry of her guilty pleas, Descharme terminated the services of her retained trial attorney and was appointed an attorney. Descharme was sentenced to three years determinate for issuing a check without funds and a unified sentence of eleven years, with five years determinate, for forgery with a persistent violator enhancement, with the sentences to run concurrently.

Following sentencing, Descharme filed a petition for post-conviction relief. The district court appointed counsel and an amended petition for post-conviction relief was filed. Descharme made four claims in her amended petition. She alleged her retained trial attorney rendered ineffective assistance of counsel because he failed to: (1) timely submit an application for Descharme to be considered for mental health court; (2) adequately address the involvement of her boyfriend/co-defendant, John May, at sentencing; and (3) provide her with and review all of the discovery in her cases. She also alleged her guilty plea was not knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily entered. The State filed an answer, raising various affirmative defenses. The district court held an evidentiary hearing at which Descharme and her retained trial attorney testified. Thereafter, the district...