Lane v. State
| Decision Date | 17 January 2019 |
| Docket Number | No. CR-17-882,CR-17-882 |
| Citation | 2019 Ark. 5,564 S.W.3d 524 |
| Parties | Adam Eugene LANE, Appellant v. STATE of Arkansas, Appellee |
| Court | Arkansas Supreme Court |
Adam Eugene Lane, pro se appellant.
Leslie Rutledge, Att'y Gen., by: David L. Eanes Jr., Ass't Att'y Gen., for appellee.
Following appellant Adam Eugene Lane's conviction on drug-related charges and unsuccessful appeal of the judgment, he filed in the trial court a timely petition for postconviction relief under Arkansas Rule of Criminal Procedure 37.1 (2017). See Lane v. State , 2017 Ark. 34, 513 S.W.3d 230 (). Lane appeals the denial of the petition by the trial court. He alleges error in the trial court's decision denying relief and asserts that the court should have found ineffective assistance of counsel and trial and appellate error. Lane additionally alleges error in the trial court's denial of his request for representation in his Rule 37 proceedings. Because none of Lane's claims merit postconviction relief under the Rule, we affirm.
Our opinion on direct appeal provides greater detail, but a brief summary of the facts in the case is necessary for an understanding of the issues. Lane was on parole when his parole officer and the police went to the hotel where Lane was staying with a female companion. The hotel manager used an electronic key to let the officers into the room, and the officers entered without a warrant or announcing themselves. The officers found ten bags of methamphetamine and a handgun in the room. After his arrest, while in jail, Lane signed a statement that the drugs found were his. His attorney moved to suppress or exclude the evidence from the search and to exclude the statement, and both motions were denied.
On appeal, this court held that the warrantless entry was valid but that the officers were required to knock and announce before entering. Id. While holding that the officers were required to knock and announce under the circumstances, this court nevertheless affirmed the decision not to suppress the evidence. Id. Although there was a constitutional violation, exclusion was not warranted because the relationship between discovery of the evidence and the constitutional violation was sufficiently attenuated to outweigh the deterrence benefits. Id. This court considered Lane's argument on appeal concerning the denial of his motion to exclude the statement and affirmed because the statement did not include a plea offer under Arkansas Rule of Evidence 410. Id. This court declined, however, to consider arguments for exclusion based on Arkansas Rule of Evidence 403 or hearsay because the first had not been preserved for appeal and the second had not been argued to the trial court. Id.
Lane largely raises the same arguments on appeal that he raised in his Rule 37.1 petition.1 He alleges that his attorney was ineffective for failing to object to the admission of his statement on hearsay and Rule 403 grounds, for failing to move for a directed verdict on the grounds that the evidence did not demonstrate his knowledge of the contraband to establish possession,2 for incorrectly advising him that the evidence would be excluded if the officers were required to adhere to the "knock and announce" requirement, and for failing to object to the introduction of the methamphetamine. Lane intertwines allegations of trial error about the trial court's decisions to admit the contested evidence throughout his ineffective-assistance claims, and he would also challenge the holding by this court that the exclusionary rule did not apply under the circumstances of the case. Finally, he alleges error in the denial of his motion for counsel for the Rule 37 proceedings.
The State first urges that all of Lane's points on appeal be affirmed because he failed to provide an adequate abstract of the proceedings in his brief as required by Arkansas Supreme Court Rule 4-3(h) (2017). However, because Lane's briefs were filed under Rule 4-7 rather than Rule 4-3, he was not required to provide an abstract.
This court reviews the trial court's decision on Rule 37.1 petitions for clear error. Gordon v. State , 2018 Ark. 73, 539 S.W.3d 586. A finding is clearly erroneous when, although there is evidence to support it, the appellate court, after reviewing the entire evidence, is left with the definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been committed. Lacy v. State , 2018 Ark. 174, 545 S.W.3d 746.
The trial court in its order treated some of Lane's claims of ineffective assistance as also raising independent claims of trial error on the issues. Lane does not raise independent claims, with the one noted exception, as separate points on appeal, but his claims of ineffective assistance on appeal are interwoven with allegations of trial error. The trial court correctly found that Lane's claims, to the extent that the allegations raised trial error, were not claims cognizable in Rule 37 proceedings. McClinton v. State , 2018 Ark. 116, 542 S.W.3d 859.
The trial court also addressed the issue Lane raised concerning allegations of error in this court's conclusions about alleged trial error in the admissibility of the evidence and found that the matter was law of the case, yet that claim was also one that is not cognizable under the Rule. Whether Lane took issue with the decision of either the trial court or the appellate court, Rule 37 is not available as a direct challenge to the admissibility of evidence or to raise questions of trial error, even questions of constitutional dimension. Id.
Our standard for ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claims is the two-prong analysis set forth in Strickland v. Washington , 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984). Gordon , 2018 Ark. 73, 539 S.W.3d 586. The benchmark for judging a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel must be "whether counsel's conduct so undermined the proper functioning of the adversarial process that the trial cannot be relied on as having produced a just result." Strickland , 466 U.S. at 686, 104 S.Ct. 2052. To prevail on a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel, the petitioner must show that (1) counsel's performance was deficient and (2) the deficient performance prejudiced his defense. Gordon , 2018 Ark. 73, 539 S.W.3d 586. A court must indulge in a strong presumption that counsel's conduct falls within the wide range of reasonable professional assistance. Douglas v. State , 2018 Ark. 89, 540 S.W.3d 685. Unless a petitioner makes both showings, the allegations do not meet the benchmark on review for granting relief on a claim of ineffective assistance. McClinton , 2018 Ark. 116, 542 S.W.3d 859.
Although the trial court appears to have found that Lane's ineffective-assistance claims for failure to object to the admission of evidence were also not cognizable as issues involving trial error, those claims are collateral attacks of the type that are appropriately raised and considered under Rule 37.1(a). See, e.g. , Lee v. State , 2017 Ark. 337, 532 S.W.3d 43. The trial court, nevertheless, correctly determined that none of the ineffective-assistance claims was sufficient to merit relief under the standard.
A petitioner seeking postconviction relief on a claim of ineffective assistance that is based on a failure to make a motion or objection must show that counsel could have made a successful argument in order to demonstrate the prejudice required under the Strickland test. Gordon , 2018 Ark. 73, 539 S.W.3d 586. Failure to make a meritless objection or motion does not constitute ineffective assistance of counsel. Id. Lane's claims, in each point, failed to satisfy the second prong of the Strickland test by failing to demonstrate that counsel could have made a meritorious argument.
As to Lane's claims that counsel should have made an objection to the admission of his statement on hearsay grounds, he demonstrated no sound basis for the objection. Statements such as Lane's, which was a statement made by a party to the proceedings, do not come within the definition of hearsay under our evidentiary rules. Ark. R. Evid. 801(d)(2)(i) (2017). A statement made by a defendant and offered against him or her at trial constitutes an admission of a party opponent. Smith v. State , 2009 Ark. 453, 343 S.W.3d 319 (citing Ward v. State , 350 Ark. 69, 73, 84 S.W.3d 863, 865–66 (2002) ).
Likewise, Lane's claim that trial counsel should have obtained a ruling on the Rule 403 ground for excluding the statement that counsel had included in the motion in limine also fails because Lane does not demonstrate that the argument would have been successful if it had been preserved for appeal. Under Rule 403, "evidence may be excluded if its probative value is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice, confusion of the issues, or misleading the jury, or by considerations of undue delay, waste of time, or needless presentation of cumulative evidence," allowing a trial court to refuse to admit evidence that is unfairly prejudicial to the defendant, even if it might be relevant. Lard v. State , 2014 Ark. 1, 431 S.W.3d 249. Evidence offered by the State is often likely to be prejudicial to the accused, but the evidence should not be excluded unless the accused can show that it lacks probative value in view of the risk of unfair prejudice. Id.
Lane failed to show that counsel's argument that the statement should be excluded under Rule 403 was meritorious, either by showing that there was a risk of unfair prejudice or that the statement lacked probative value. Lane does not appear to attack the probative value of the statement, which is clearly...
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