Gregory v. State

• Decision Date: 17 March 2022
• Docket Number: 20210307
• Court: North Dakota Supreme Court
• Parties: Komikka Katrice Gregory, Petitioner and Appellant v. State of North Dakota, Respondent and Appellee

2022 ND 54

Komikka Katrice Gregory, Petitioner and Appellant
v.
State of North Dakota, Respondent and Appellee

No. 20210307

Supreme Court of North Dakota

March 17, 2022

Appeal from the District Court of Ward County, North Central Judicial District, the Honorable Gary H. Lee, Judge.

Kiara C. Kraus-Parr, Grand Forks, ND, for petitioner and appellant; submitted on brief.

Christopher W. Nelson, Assistant State's Attorney, Minot, ND, for respondent and appellee; submitted on brief.

Opinion of the Court by Jensen, Chief Justice, in which Justices Crothers and Tufte joined. Justice VandeWalle filed an opinion concurring. Justice McEvers filed a dissenting opinion.

1

Jensen, Chief Justice

[¶1] Komikka Gregory appealed a district court order summarily dismissing her petition for post-conviction relief. Gregory argues the court erred in granting summary disposition because the State failed to make a separate motion. The State agrees that the matter should be reversed and remanded based on this Court's recent decision in Chase v. State, 2021 ND 206, 966 N.W.2d 557. We reverse and remand for further proceedings.

I

[¶2] In 2018, a jury found Gregory not guilty of the charge of murder, but guilty of a charge of manslaughter. Gregory appealed her conviction and this Court affirmed. State v. Gregory, 2019 ND 241, 933 N.W.2d 469.

[¶3] In August 2021, Gregory filed an application for post-conviction relief requesting her conviction be set aside and she be granted a new trial based on ineffective assistance of counsel. The State filed an answer which included a request for summary disposition under N.D.C.C. § 29-32.1-09. The district court deferred ruling on the motion for summary disposition and ordered Gregory to submit, within 30 days, declarations and other admissible evidence in support of her petition and opposition to the motion. With no response from Gregory, the court granted summary disposition.

II

[¶4] Gregory and the State agree that this case should be remanded to the district court for further proceedings. While this case was on appeal, we decided Chase v. State, 2021 ND 206, 966 N.W.2d 557.

[¶5] "Post-conviction relief proceedings are civil in nature and governed by the North Dakota Rules of Civil Procedure." Chase, 2021 ND 206, ¶ 8 (quoting Wacht v. State, 2015 ND 154, ¶ 6, 864 N.W.2d 740). In Chase, a majority of the Court held that a district court may not order summary disposition in response to a request in a pleading, including the...