Williams v. State
| Decision Date | 29 August 2002 |
| Docket Number | No. 01-550.,01-550. |
| Citation | 53 P.3d 864,2002 MT 189,311 Mont. 108 |
| Parties | Alan Wayne WILLIAMS, Petitioner and Appellant, v. STATE of Montana, Respondent and Respondent. |
| Court | Montana Supreme Court |
Jon A. Oldenburg, Attorney at Law, Lewistown, Montana, For Appellant.
Mike McGrath, Attorney General; Jennifer Anders, Assistant Attorney General, Helena, Montana, Thomas P. Meissner, Fergus County Attorney, Lewistown, Montana, For Respondent.
¶ 1 By Information filed in the District Court for the Tenth Judicial District in Fergus County, the Defendant, Alan Wayne Williams, was charged with felony criminal possession of drugs (methamphetamine), misdemeanor criminal possession of drugs (marijuana), and misdemeanor criminal possession of drug paraphernalia. Williams was convicted of all three offenses following a non-jury trial, and sentenced on March 23, 1999. On September 11, 2000, Williams filed a petition for postconviction relief based on numerous claims of ineffective assistance of counsel. Williams subsequently amended his petition to include two additional claims of ineffective assistance of counsel. The District Court denied Williams' petition for postconviction relief, and Williams appeals from the District Court's denial. We affirm the District Court to the extent that it addressed the issues raised by Williams, but remand to the District Court for further findings regarding those issues it has not addressed.
¶ 2 The following issues are presented on appeal:
¶ 3 1. Did the District Court erroneously decide the issues that it addressed?
¶ 4 2. Did the District Court inadequately address the additional issues raised in Williams' amended petition for postconviction relief?
¶ 5 On August 25, 1998, Jim Simonich, Alan Wayne William's probation officer, conducted a probationary search of Williams' apartment based on a tip he had received from Williams' roommate, Laura Wilton. Wilton alleged that Williams was involved in drug activities. During the search, Simonich found a wooden box containing glass vials, baggies, a scrap of paper with residue, scissors, a razor, and tin foil with burned residue on it. The wooden box was in plain view in the apartment on top of a box of clothes that appeared ready to be moved.
¶ 6 Simonich had the items field-tested at the Lewistown Police Department. Officer Ed McLean tested a portion of residue in a glass vial and also a green leafy substance found in a glass case. The residue in the glass vial tested positive for methamphetamine, and the material in the glass case tested positive for THC, the illegal substance found in marijuana. The items were then sent to the State Crime Lab for further analysis. The State Crime Lab confirmed that the residue in the glass vial was methamphetamine, but found no THC on any of the items tested.
¶ 7 Based on the search and what was found, Williams was arrested. At the time of the arrest, Simonich also had Williams provide a urine sample. The urine sample was both "field tested" and sent to a prerelease lab in Great Falls, Montana. At trail, Simonich testified that the "field test" results were positive for THC and negative for methamphetamine. The prerelease lab independently tested Williams' urine sample, and found positive results for both THC and methamphetamine. According to the State, neither the prosecution nor the defense were provided the prerelease lab results prior to trial. Nevertheless, at trial, Simonich mentioned those test results in his testimony.
¶ 8 The District Court appointed Carl G. DeBelly to represent Williams on or about August 27, 1998. By Information filed on September 1, 1998, Williams was charged with felony criminal possession of dangerous drugs (methamphetamine), misdemeanor criminal possession of dangerous drugs (marijuana), and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia.
¶ 9 Williams' defense was based on his denial that he owned or possessed the drugs and the fact that others had an opportunity to be in the apartment and either leave or plant the drugs. Williams claimed that the wooden box did not belong to him and that he was in the process of moving out when Simonich conducted the search. Williams did admit, however, that he was in the apartment on the morning of August 25, 1998, just hours before the search, and that he stayed at the apartment three or four nights a week during that month of August. Williams' roommate, Laura Wilton, also admitted that she had access to the apartment, and that she had been in the apartment the night before the search.
¶ 10 On February 3, 1999, Williams was convicted of the charged offenses after a non-jury trial. On March 23, 1999, Williams was sentenced. Both the non-jury trial and the sentencing were presided over by the Honorable John R. Christensen. On April 15, 1999, DeBelly withdrew as Williams' attorney, and the District Court appointed attorney Jack R. Stone to replace DeBelly. Williams' direct appeal to this Court was withdrawn. However, he subsequently filed a petition for postconviction relief on September 11, 2000, and asserted numerous claims that his trial counsel, DeBelly, had been ineffective. An evidentiary hearing was held before the Honorable E. Wayne Phillips to consider evidence in support of Williams' petition on January 18, 2001. Following the hearing, the District Court allowed Williams to amend his petition for postconviction relief to include two additional ineffective assistance of counsel claims.
¶ 11 On May 17, 2001, the District Court denied Williams' petition for postconviction relief. The Court determined that two of Williams' claims were procedurally barred and that the remaining ineffective assistance of counsel claims lacked merit. Following the District Court's denial, Jack R. Stone withdrew as Williams' attorney. Acting pro se, Williams filed a notice of appeal on May 28, 2001, and requested that appellate counsel be appointed. Attorney Jon A. Oldenburg was appointed for purposes of this appeal. On appeal, Williams contends that the District Court erred when it denied his petition for postconviction relief and when it failed to address the additional ineffective assistance claims raised in his amended petition.
¶ 12 The standard of review of a district court's denial of a petition for postconviction relief is whether the district court's findings of fact are clearly erroneous and whether its conclusions of law are correct. State v. Hanson, 1999 MT 226, ¶ 9, 296 Mont. 82, ¶ 9, 988 P.2d 299, ¶ 9.
¶ 13 In considering ineffective assistance of counsel claims in postconviction proceedings, we apply the two-part test set forth by the United State Supreme Court in Strickland v. Washington (1984), 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674. Dawson v. State, 2000 MT 219, ¶ 20, 301 Mont. 135, ¶ 20, 10 P.3d 49, ¶ 20. The two-part test requires the defendant to show that his counsel's performance was deficient, or fails to meet an objective standard of reasonableness, and that his counsel's deficient performance prejudiced the defense and deprived the defendant of a fair trial. Dawson, ¶ 20; Strickland, 466 U.S. at 687, 104 S.Ct. at 2064. We presume that counsel has rendered adequate assistance and has made all significant decisions in the exercise of his or her reasonable professional judgment. State v. Weaver, 2001 MT 115, ¶ 12, 305 Mont. 315, ¶ 12, 28 P.3d 451, ¶ 12.
¶ 14 Did the District Court erroneously decide the issues that it addressed?
¶ 15 Williams' petition for postconviction relief was based on his contention that he received ineffective assistance of counsel before, during, and after trial. Specifically, Williams alleged that his trial counsel: (1) failed to conduct proper discovery; (2) failed to obtain and call certain witnesses necessary for his defense to testify; (3) failed to properly question witnesses; (4) conducted inadequate trial preparation; (5) allowed his personal problems to detract from his representation; (6) failed to substitute the trial judge when requested to do so; and (7) failed to call necessary and beneficial witnesses at Williams' sentencing hearing. The final two claims were not included in Williams' original petition, but were allowed by the District Court in the amended petition. As relief, Williams requests this Court to order a new trial.
¶ 16 In response, the State contends that the District Court's conclusion that Williams' trial counsel was not ineffective was fully supported by the evidence. According to the State, Williams' trial counsel made reasonable efforts to contact witnesses, formulated sound trial strategy, and employed that trial strategy effectively through the witnesses he presented. Furthermore, the State asserts that Williams' other claims that his counsel lacked preparedness were either unfounded or did not result in prejudice.
¶ 17 Williams first contends that his trial counsel failed to contact, discover, and prepare witnesses that would have been beneficial to his defense. Specifically, Williams contends that his trial counsel should have presented the testimony of two witnesses, one of whom was an unnamed man who was a neighbor of Williams, and the other was "Mr. Bruski," who purportedly had been in Williams' apartment the night before the search. Because Williams' defense was based on who had access to the apartment, the ownership and possession of the drugs, and who had an opportunity to have been in the apartment to either leave or plant the drugs, Williams contends that those witnesses would have been beneficial to his defense, and that his trial counsel's failure to find and call those witnesses constitutes ineffective assistance of counsel. We conclude that ineffective assistance of counsel on that basis was not established.
¶ 18 Williams contends that he awoke the unnamed neighbor at 3:00...
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