Hale v. State

• Decision Date: 24 July 1997
• Docket Number: No. C2-96-2198,C2-96-2198
• Parties: Anthony HALE, petitioner, Appellant, v. STATE of Minnesota, Respondent.
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court

Page 923

566 N.W.2d 923

Anthony HALE, petitioner, Appellant, v. STATE of Minnesota, Respondent.

No. C2-96-2198.

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

July 24, 1997.

Syllabus by the Court

The postconviction court properly denied appellant's petition for postconviction relief without holding an evidentiary hearing when the appellant had filed prior petitions seeking similar relief, when the appellant's claims of ineffective assistance of trial counsel were raised and decided on direct appeal, or known but not raised at the time of direct appeal, and when appellant's claim of ineffective assistance of appellate counsel fails on its merits.

Earl P. Gray, Mark D. Nyvold, St. Paul, for Appellant.

Hubert H. Humphrey, III, St. Paul, James C. Backstrom, Charles A. Diemer, Dakota County Judicial Center, Hastings, for Respondent.

Heard, considered, and decided by the court en banc.

OPINION

BLATZ, Justice.

This appeal is from an order of the Dakota County District Court denying, without holding an evidentiary hearing, appellant Anthony Hale's petition for postconviction relief. Hale was convicted of first-degree murder in the stabbing death of Vicky Shelton on January 31, 1989, and was sentenced to life imprisonment. This court affirmed Hale's conviction on direct appeal. State v. Hale, 453 N.W.2d 704 (Minn.1990). Hale subsequently filed multiple petitions for postconviction relief, all of which were heard by the same district court judge and denied. In his most recent postconviction petition, filed August 30, 1996, Hale raised claims of ineffective assistance of trial and appellate counsel which the postconviction court also denied. On appeal to this court, Hale seeks to have his conviction set aside and a new trial granted. We affirm.

We take the facts surrounding the crime as detailed in Hale's direct appeal. Hale, 453 N.W.2d 704. Hale lived with the victim, Vicky Shelton, in her Eagan apartment and is the father of their two children. On the afternoon of Tuesday, September 6, 1988, neighbors discovered Shelton's dead body on the floor of the master bedroom near a crib where Shelton and Hale's 3-month-old son was sleeping. Shelton's neighbors had become suspicious after they saw Shelton and Hale's 2-year-old son playing unattended on her patio, saw blood on the apartment curtains and heard the telephone ringing continuously.

During their investigation, the police recovered three large butcher knives and a carving fork in the bedroom. One knife, the handle of which was found on the dresser, had broken off inside Shelton. Another knife and the carving fork were bent and covered with blood. The autopsy revealed that Shelton had been stabbed 14 times. Individually at least four of the wounds could have caused her death. There were also signs of attempted strangulation (a bathrobe sash was wound around her neck and an electric cord was lying next to her body) and signs that Shelton had been beaten about the head with a metal coat rack.

Hale was connected to the murder scene by two neighbors and his own statements to the police. Scientific evidence also linked Hale to fingerprints, palm prints, blood stains, and a footprint found at the scene.

After waiving his right to a jury trial, Hale was tried in Dakota County by Judge Robert Carolan. The only defense witness called at trial was Hale who claimed he had gone to the apartment in an intoxicated condition after consuming marijuana, cocaine, Ativan (a prescription tranquilizer), and whiskey. He testified that an argument ensued after Shelton criticized him for using drugs. He claimed she grabbed a knife after he "smacked" her and that he cut his hand while grabbing it from her. He testified that he remembered hitting and "cutting" her but could not remember stabbing her with the fork, breaking a knife blade inside her, hitting her with a coat rack, or strangling her. Hale admitted that he ignored Shelton's request to be taken to a hospital. He claimed he panicked, changed his bloody clothes, and fled with companions who were waiting outside.

The district court found Hale guilty of first-degree murder and two counts of second-degree murder and sentenced him to life imprisonment.

A year later, this court affirmed Hale's conviction. We held that: 1) there was sufficient evidence of premeditation and intent despite Hale's claims of intoxication; 2) the evidence did not compel the conclusion that Hale acted in the heat of passion; 3) the district court did not err in admitting Hale's statements to the police; and 4) the claims raised in Hale's pro se supplemental brief--ineffective assistance of trial counsel and impropriety of the grand jury proceedings--did not merit comment. Hale, 453 N.W.2d at 706-08.

Hale first filed a petition for postconviction relief on May 17, 1991. Proceeding pro se, Hale requested that all aspects of the proceedings be reviewed and asked that counsel be appointed. The first postconviction court held a brief hearing to listen to arguments and then denied Hale's request for counsel. The court also denied the petition, determining that all issues were either raised and decided by this court or known but not raised at the time of Hale's direct appeal.

Hale appealed the first postconviction court's decision to the court of appeals which held that Hale was entitled to counsel for his postconviction proceedings. ¹ Hale v. State, No. C5-91-1480, 1992 WL 43300, at * 1 (Minn.App. Mar.10, 1992). On remand, Hale amended his petition to include a variety of claims of ineffective assistance of trial and appellate counsel (2nd Petition). This 2nd Petition was summarily denied because Hale's claims of ineffective assistance of trial counsel were raised and decided or known at the time of the direct appeal. Hale's claim of ineffective assistance of appellate counsel was denied on the basis that the allegation was too general to warrant an evidentiary hearing. ²

Four years later, Hale filed another petition for postconviction relief (3rd Petition). In his 3rd Petition, Hale again raised claims of ineffective assistance of trial and appellate counsel. All but one of the specific ineffective assistance of trial counsel claims set forth in the 3rd Petition were previously raised in Hale's 2nd Petition. The only new claim asserted in Hale's 3rd Petition was that his trial counsel failed to obtain a mental evaluation which would have shown that he had "suffered a temporary mental deficiency induced by drugs and Shelton's aggressive actions, such as cutting [Hale] with a knife before he cut her."

In his 3rd Petition, Hale also reframed the ineffective assistance of appellate counsel issue. Hale based this claim on his appellate counsel's failure to advise him that he might be precluded from raising a claim of ineffective assistance of trial counsel in subsequent proceedings if he raised the issue in his pro se supplemental brief on direct appeal. Hale also claimed his appellate counsel failed to advise him that if he raised the issue, he would not get a postconviction hearing.

The third postconviction court summarily dismissed the 3rd Petition without a hearing. The court concluded that Hale's allegations of ineffective assistance of trial and appellate counsel had either been considered and decided by this court on direct appeal or by a district court on a previous petition for postconviction relief. Hale now appeals.

The scope of review of a postconviction proceeding is limited to determining whether there is sufficient evidence to sustain the postconviction court's findings, and a postconviction court's decision will not be disturbed absent an abuse of discretion. Hodgson v. State, 540 N.W.2d 515, 517 (Minn.1995). An evidentiary hearing is not required unless there are material facts in dispute which must be resolved to determine the postconviction claim on its merits. Id. The petitioner's allegations must be more than argumentative assertions without factual support. Id. A petitioner has the burden of establishing, by a fair preponderance of the evidence, facts which warrant a reopening of the case. Hanley v. State, 534 N.W.2d 277, 278 (Minn.1995); Minn.Stat. § 590.04, subd. 3 (1996).

A postconviction court may summarily deny a second or successive petition for similar relief made by the same petitioner. Minn.Stat. § 590.04, subd. 3. The petition at issue, the 3rd Petition, was Hale's second request for relief based on claims of ineffective assistance of trial and appellate counsel. Therefore, the postconviction court did not abuse its discretion when it summarily denied Hale's 3rd Petition for postconviction relief.

The postconviction court's summary denial of Hale's 3rd Petition was also justified on other grounds. First, Hale's claims of ineffective assistance of trial counsel were properly denied based on the Knaffla rule, which states that once a direct appeal has been taken, any matter raised and any claim known but not raised, will not be considered upon a subsequent petition for postconviction relief. See Black v. State, 560 N.W.2d 83, 85 (Minn.1997) (citing State v. Knaffla, 309 Minn. 246, 252, 243 N.W.2d 737, 741 (1976)). This Knaffla bar includes claims for ineffective assistance of trial counsel. Id. Second, Hale's claim of ineffective assistance of appellate counsel was properly denied because it is without merit.

We turn first to Hale's ineffective assistance of trial counsel claims and Knaffla. Hale first raised this issue in his pro se supplemental brief on direct appeal when he asserted that his trial counsel failed to file...