Doyle v. State, DA 16-0167

• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Montana
• Citation: 392 P.3d 613 (Table)
• Docket Number: DA 16-0167
• Parties: Keith Eugene DOYLE, Petitioner and Appellant, v. STATE of Montana, Respondent and Appellee.
• Decision Date: 18 April 2017

392 P.3d 613 (Table)

Keith Eugene DOYLE, Petitioner and Appellant,
v.
STATE of Montana, Respondent and Appellee.

DA 16-0167

Supreme Court of Montana.

Submitted on Briefs: March 22, 2017
Decided: April 18, 2017

For Appellant: Keith Eugene Doyle (Self-Represented), Shelby, Montana

For Appellee: Timothy C. Fox, Montana Attorney General, Mardell Ployhar, Assistant, Attorney General, Helena, Montana, Eileen Joyce, Silver Bow County Attorney, Butte, Montana

Justice Michael E Wheat delivered the Opinion of the Court.

¶1 Pursuant to Section I, Paragraph 3(c), Montana Supreme Court Internal Operating Rules, this case is decided by memorandum opinion and shall not be cited and does not serve as precedent. Its case title, cause number, and disposition shall be included in this Court's quarterly list of noncitable cases published in the Pacific Reporter and Montana Reports.

¶2 Keith Eugene Doyle (Doyle) appeals from the February 12, 2016 order of the Second Judicial District Court, Silver Bow County, denying his petition for postconviction relief (PCR). In January 2005, a jury convicted Doyle of Deliberate Homicide by Accountability and the District Court sentenced him to 65 years in the Montana State Prison. Doyle filed an appeal with the Montana Supreme Court¹ and, on May 31, 2007, this Court affirmed his conviction in State v. Doyle , 2007 MT 125, 337 Mont. 308, 160 P.3d 516. In October 2007, Doyle filed his first PCR petition with the District Court (DV 07-280), raising numerous ineffective assistance of counsel claims based on the same evidentiary issues raised in his appeal. In April 2008, the court dismissed the petition, finding that his claim was barred under § 46-21-105(2), MCA.² Doyle appealed the District Court's denial of his PCR petition to the Montana Supreme Court and, in April 2009, this Court denied his appeal. Doyle filed, and the District Court denied, his second PCR petition in July 2013. Doyle did not appeal the court's denial of his second PCR petition. In both 2008 and 2013, Doyle also filed petitions for writ of habeas corpus with this Court, which we subsequently denied.³

¶3 On October 6, 2015, Doyle filed his third PCR petition in the District Court (DV 15-360). The court denied Doyle's petition as untimely because it was filed more than one year after his conviction became final. The court also found that Doyle's newly discovered evidence claims failed under § 46-21-102(2), MCA, and that his third petition was procedurally barred under § 46-21-105(1)(b), MCA. Doyle now appeals the District Court's denial of his 2015 PCR petition.

¶4 We review a district court's denial of a PCR petition to determine if the court's findings of fact are clearly erroneous and if its conclusions of law are correct. McGarvey v. State , 2014 MT 189, ¶ 14, 375 Mont. 495, 329 P.3d 576. We review de novo a district court's interpretation and application of a statute. Dick Irvin, Inc. v. State , 2013 MT 272, ¶ 18, 372 Mont. 58, 310 P.3d 524.

¶5 Section 46-21-102(1), MCA, provides that a PCR petition must be filed within one year of the date that the conviction...