Sides v. State

• Decision Date: 18 March 2021
• Docket Number: S-15-0298, S-20-0009, S-20-0162
• Parties: John Michael SIDES, Jr., Appellant (Defendant), v. The STATE of Wyoming, Appellee (Plaintiff).
• Court: Wyoming Supreme Court

483 P.3d 128

John Michael SIDES, Jr., Appellant (Defendant),
v.
The STATE of Wyoming, Appellee (Plaintiff).

S-15-0298, S-20-0009, S-20-0162

Supreme Court of Wyoming.

March 18, 2021

Representing Appellant: Lauren McLane, Faculty Director, Defender Aid Clinic, University of Wyoming College of Law; Emily Williams, Student Director; Andrew Sickenberger, Student Director. Argument by Mr. Sickenberger.

Representing Appellee: Bridget Hill, Wyoming Attorney General; Jenny L. Craig, Deputy Attorney General; Joshua C. Eames, Senior Assistant Attorney General. Argument by Mr. Eames.

Before DAVIS, C.J., and FOX, KAUTZ, BOOMGAARDEN, and GRAY, JJ.

GRAY, Justice.

¶1] John Michael Sides, Jr., is serving consecutive life sentences for crimes he committed while he was a juvenile in Washakie County and in Carbon County. He appeals Washakie County District Court orders denying his motions to correct an illegal sentence and to withdraw his guilty plea (S-20-0009, the Washakie County appeal). He also appeals Carbon County District Court orders imposing sentences consecutive to his Washakie County sentence and denying his Rule 21 motion (S-15-0298 and S-20-0162, the Carbon County appeal). Those appeals have been consolidated here. We affirm the Washakie County decisions; the district court did not have jurisdiction to consider arguments raised in Mr. Sides’ motion to correct his illegal sentence, and he is time-barred from withdrawing his guilty plea. We affirm the Carbon County sentence and the denial of Mr. Sides’ Rule 21 motion.

ISSUES

[¶2] Mr. Sides raises twelve issues (eight in the Washakie County appeal and four in the Carbon County appeal). We address the dispositive issues:

1. Did the Washakie County District Court have jurisdiction to consider the application of parole eligibility statutes in a motion to correct an illegal sentence?

2. Did the Washakie County District Court have jurisdiction to consider Mr. Sides’ motion to withdraw his guilty plea?

3. Does Mr. Sides’ Carbon County sentence result in an unconstitutional de facto life sentence?

4. Did Mr. Sides receive ineffective assistance of counsel at his Carbon County resentencing hearing?

[483 P.3d 131

FACTS

¶3] Limited facts are germane to the issues presented in this appeal. We provide a brief overview of the relevant facts and the rulings.

A. Washakie County

[¶4] In 1995, when Mr. Sides was seventeen years old, he resided at the Wyoming Boys’ School and had gone home for a visit. While at home, he ran away and was subsequently arrested. Deputy Steve Crerar, a Fremont County Sheriff's deputy, picked Mr. Sides up from the jail and drove him back to the Boys’ School. On the way, Mr. Sides removed one of his handcuffs. As they reached the Boys’ School, he wrestled Deputy Crerar's gun from him and shot him in the head, killing him. He also fired shots at Ricky Robertson, who was nearby, striking him in the neck and wounding him. Still carrying the weapon, Mr. Sides entered the Boys’ School welding shop and eventually surrendered. Mr. Sides pled guilty to first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, and taking a deadly weapon into the Boys’ School. Mr. Sides was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences (for first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder) and three to five years (for taking a deadly weapon into the Boys’ School) to run consecutively to the life sentences.

[¶5] Mr. Sides did not file a direct appeal in the Washakie County matter. However, in 2013, following the United States Supreme Court's decision in Miller v. Alabama , 567 U.S. 460, 132 S.Ct. 2455, 183 L.Ed.2d 407 (2012), he filed a motion to correct an illegal sentence pursuant to W.R.Cr.P. 35(a). Mr. Sides argued in his 2013 filings, and in supplemental filings made during the course of the Washakie County matter, that his sentences violated the United States Constitution, the protections afforded by Miller and its progeny—that a life sentence without the possibility of parole violates the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment when imposed on a juvenile without an individualized sentencing hearing—and the Wyoming Constitution. See, e.g. , Sen v. State , 2017 WY 30, ¶ 18, 390 P.3d 769, 775 (Wyo. 2017) ( Sen III ) ("an aggregate sentence mandating 45 years of parole ineligibility constitutes a de facto life sentence" and is unconstitutional absent the sentencing court's finding of irreparable corruption (citing Bear Cloud v. State , 2014 WY 113, ¶ 33, 334 P.3d 132, 141–42 (Wyo. 2014) ( Bear Cloud III ))). He also argued that Wyo. Stat. Ann. §§ 6-10-301(c) and 7-13-402 as they apply to him are unconstitutional because they would deprive him of parole eligibility to which he is entitled as a juvenile offender.

[¶6] In 2019, Mr. Sides filed a motion to withdraw his guilty plea.¹ In that motion, he argued that he should be allowed to withdraw his plea based on ineffective assistance of counsel concerning the advice he received as to the length of his potential sentence.

[¶7] Mr. Sides’ motions were heard on July 17, 2019, and on September 13, 2019. The district court concluded that Mr. Sides’ consecutive Washakie County sentences were illegal and should be corrected. It modified Mr. Sides’ sentences to run concurrently, not consecutively. The district court concluded it had no jurisdiction over Mr. Sides’ parole eligibility argument. It denied his motion to withdraw his plea. Mr. Sides appeals those rulings.

B. Carbon County

[¶8] Approximately six months after he was originally sentenced in Washakie County, when he was still seventeen, Mr. Sides stabbed Frances Foster, a teacher at the Wyoming State Penitentiary. During the incident, he wrestled with Charles Birr, another inmate who had come to assist Ms. Foster, inflicting wounds on his chest and abdomen. Sides v. State , 963 P.2d 227, 228–29 (Wyo. 1998) ( Sides I ). Mr. Sides was charged with attempted first-degree murder (stabbing Ms.

[483 P.3d 132

Foster) and aggravated assault and battery (wounding Mr. Birr). A jury found him guilty of the first charge, and he pled guilty to the second. Id. at 229. He was sentenced to a life sentence, consecutive to the Washakie County sentences, for the attempted first-degree murder, and to a term of six to ten years, consecutive to his Carbon County life sentence, for the aggravated assault and battery. Id.

¶9] In the Carbon County matter, Mr. Sides filed a direct appeal. See Sides I . In 2013, he filed a motion to correct an illegal sentence, also arguing these sentences violated Miller and its progeny. The district court granted his motion and, after a 2015 resentencing hearing, reduced his sentence to life for attempted murder, to be served consecutively to his Washakie County sentence, and a concurrent three to five years for aggravated assault and battery. In effect, Mr. Sides is serving a twenty-five-year to life sentence for his Carbon County crimes, which is consecutive to his twenty-five-year to life sentence for his Washakie County crimes.

[¶10] Mr. Sides filed a motion pursuant to W.R.Cr.P. 21 (Rule 21 motion), arguing his counsel was ineffective at the Carbon County resentencing hearing. The district court denied that motion. Mr. Sides appeals his sentence and the district court's decision on his Rule 21 motion.

DISCUSSION

I. Did the Washakie County District Court have jurisdiction to consider the application of parole eligibility statutes in a motion to correct an illegal sentence?

[¶11] In 2007, Mr. Sides was housed in Nevada. While there, he was convicted of attacking another inmate with a deadly weapon.

[¶12] Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 7-13-402 sets forth the general powers of the Wyoming Board of Parole (BOP). It precludes the consideration of parole for an inmate

if, while serving [the sentence from which he is otherwise eligible for parole], he has:

(i) Made an assault with a deadly weapon upon any officer, employee or inmate of any institution; or

(ii) Escaped, attempted to escape or assisted others to escape from any institution.

Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 7-13-402(b)(i)–(ii) (LexisNexis 2019).²

[¶13] In his W.R.Cr.P. 35 motion to correct his Washakie County sentences, Mr. Sides argued that his Nevada conviction did not render him ineligible for parole under Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 7-13-402(b) because that provision is unconstitutional as it applies to him. The district court concluded that the statute's applicability was not ripe for review because the BOP had never denied Mr. Sides parole based on the statute. The court also concluded it lacked jurisdiction to determine the statute's constitutionality. Mr. Sides appeals, arguing that the district court had jurisdiction to consider the constitutionality of § 7-13-402(b) as it applies to him.³

A. Standard of Review

[¶14] Questions of jurisdiction and justiciability are subject to de novo review. See Allred v. Bebout , 2018 WY 8, ¶ 29, 409 P.3d 260, 268 (Wyo. 2018) ; DeLoge v. State , 2010 WY 60, ¶ 15, 231 P.3d 862, 865 (Wyo. 2010) (citing William F. West Ranch, LLC v. Tyrrell , 2009 WY 62, ¶ 9, 206 P.3d 722, 726 (Wyo. 2009) ; Coleman v. State , 2005 WY 69, ¶ 11, 115 P.3d 411, 413–14 (Wyo. 2005) );

[483 P.3d 133

Brown v. City of Casper , 2011 WY 35, ¶ 8, 248 P.3d 1136, 1139 (Wyo. 2011).

B. Can Mr. Sides challenge Wyo. Stat. Ann. §...