IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF MONTANA 

OP 23-0104 

GEORGE C. WELLS, 

Petitioner, 

v . 

JAMES SALMONSEN, Warden, 

Montana State Prison, 

Respondent. 

FILED 

MAR 1 4 2023 

Bowen Greenwood 

Clerk of Supreme Court 

Siete of Montana 

ORDER 

George C. Wells has filed a petition entitled "Art. II § 19 Petition for Relief," which 

seeks habeas corpus relief from his current sentence. He contends the sentence was 

imposed without lawful authority, but provides no legal precedent or authority 

demonstrating his sentence was illegally imposed. To the contrary, we have repeatedly 

explained and held that his current sentence is lawful. 

In 1982, Wells was convicted of aggravated assault, aggravated burglary, and 

attempted sexual intercourse without consent in the Eighth Judicial District Court, Cascade 

County, and appealed. We affirmed. State v. Wells, 202 Mont. 337, 357, 658 P.2d 381, 

391 (1983). Wells received a 150-year prison sentence. In September 2015, this Court 

granted Wells partial habeas corpus relief and remanded his case for resentencing because 

the 2010 change in Montana law concerning persistent felony offender (PFO) designations 

affected Wells's sentence. See Wells v. Kirkegard, No. OP 15-0466, Order, at 2-3 (Mont. 

Sept. 29, 2015) (quoting State v. Gunderson, 2010 MT 166, ¶ 49, 357 Mont. 142, 237 P.3d 

74 (Gunderson II)) (Wells 1). We explained about Wells's sentence: 

In its Judgment of Conviction, Sentence and Order, the Cascade County 

District Court designated Wells a persistent felony offender (PFO) under 

§ 46-18-501, MCA. Wells received a twenty-year sentence for aggravated 

assault, a forty-year sentence for attempted sexual intercourse without 

consent, a forty-year sentence for aggravated burglary, and a fifty-year 

03/14/2023

Case Number: OP 23-0104
sentence for a persistent felony offender under § 46-18-502, MCA. All 

sentences were to run consecutively. 

Wells I, at 1. Wells argued in Wells I that his PFO sentence, imposed along with his other 

sentences, was illegal under Gunderson, and the State conceded that resentencing was 

required. 

Pursuant to our Order, on April 20, 2016, the Cascade County District Court 

resentenced Wells for his felony convictions, and the court "did not sentence him as a 

PFO," but, rather, imposed a 100-year sentence for Wells' convictions. Wells v. Fletcher, 

No. OP 17-0224, Order, at 1 (Mont. May 9, 2017) (Wells II). Wells petitioned for habeas 

corpus relief, but this Court denied the petition, stating Wells "has not demonstrated that 

his [2016] sentence is facially illegal." Wells II, at 2. 

Wells petitioned again in 2021, arguing that he should have been sentenced as a 

PFO because it was mandatory. This Court denied his petition, explaining that he was 

precluded from relief because he did not appeal his 2016 sentence, pursuant to 

§ 46-22-101(2), MCA ("The writ of habeas corpus is not available to attack the validity of 

a conviction or sentence of a person who has been adjudged guilty of an offense in a court 

of record and has exhausted the remedy of appeal"), and that, in any event, his legal 

arguments were incorrect "because the law goveming PFO sentencing has changed since 

2009." Wells v. Salmonsen, No. OP 21-0526, Order, at 1-2 (Mont. Nov. 9, 2021) (Wells 

III). 

Thereafter, Wells again sought relief from this Court regarding his sentence, which 

we addressed in 2022. He requested reinstatement of his original fifty-year PFO sentence 

instead of what he described as the "100-year PFO sentence" he received following this 

Court's remand of this case for re-sentencing in [Wells .1]." Wells v. Salmonsen, No. 

OP 22-0013, Order, at 1 (Mont. Jan. 25, 2022) (Wells IV). As explained above, Wells had 

received no such sentence in his resentencing. We reiterated that Wells was precluded 

from habeas corpus relief, and warned him that he should not seek fiirther relief with this 

Court concerning this sentence, stating "[w]e caution Wells to refrain from his repeated 

filings collaterally attacking his sentence." Wells IV, at 2. 

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That brings us to Wells' current petition again challenging his sentence. Wells 

attempts to preempt this Court's caution by now arguing that "this Court's threat to suspend 

George C. Wells' right to file under Art II § 19 is unconstitutional," because "the writ of 

habeas corpus shall never be suspend[ed]." 

The writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended under Montana's Constitution, but 

that does not mean this Court is powerless to address abuse of the right. Wells's instant 

Petition, filed despite this Court's caution, again lacks merit, for he cannot demonstrate a 

facially invalid sentence. Section 46-22-101(1), MCA. Wells has confused and misapplied 

Montana law. He is not entitled to the original fifly-year sentence as a PFO when that 

sentence was deerned illegal by this Court. We have explained this to Wells several times 

since 2017. Accordingly, 

IT IS ORDERED that Wells's Petition for Habeas Relief is DENIED and 

DISMISSED. 

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that henceforth, prior to filing any original petition 

with this Court regarding his 2016 sentence imposed on rernand, Wells is directed to file a 

motion for leave to file the petition. The motion must be sworn under oath before a notary 

public, not exceed three pages in length, and make a preliminary showing that the motion 

has merit and meets the criteria to state a prima facie case under M. R. App. P. 14(5). Only 

when this Court has reviewed the motion and issued an order granting leave to file may the 

Clerk of the Suprerne Court file the petition. The Clerk shall reject any other original 

petition that Wells seeks to file and shall inforrn Wells accordingly. 

The Clerk is directed to provide a copy of this Order to counsel of record and to 

George C. Wells, along with a copy of M. R. App. P. 14(5), for his reference. 

The Clerk is also directed to CLOSE this matter as of this Order's date. 

DATED this I LI —day of March, 2023. 

Chief Justice 

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