IN THE SUPREME COURT

STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA

2024 ND 184

Jeremy Spencer Woolsey, Petitioner and Appellant

v.

State of North Dakota, Respondent and Appellee

No. 20240109

Appeal from the District Court of Grand Forks County, Northeast Central 

Judicial District, the Honorable Donald Hager, Judge.

AFFIRMED.

Opinion of the Court by McEvers, Justice.

Tracy E. Reames, Fargo, ND, for petitioner and appellant; submitted on brief.

Andrew C. Eyre, Assistant State’s Attorney, Grand Forks, ND, for respondent 

and appellee; submitted on brief.
1

Woolsey v. State

No. 20240109

McEvers, Justice.

[¶1] Jeremy Woolsey appeals from an order summarily dismissing his 

application for postconviction relief. We affirm, concluding the Uniform 

Postconviction Procedure Act, N.D.C.C. ch. 29-32.1, does not apply to juvenile 

adjudications.

I 

[¶2] In January 2024, Woolsey applied for postconviction relief from his 2010 

juvenile adjudication, alleging he did not enter a voluntary and intelligent guilty 

plea in his juvenile case because he was denied the right to counsel, causing him 

to be unaware of the consequences of the adjudication. He also alleged the 

existence of newly discovered evidence. The State answered and moved for 

summary dismissal, arguing postconviction relief is unavailable in juvenile 

delinquency cases and the application was untimely. Woolsey responded to the 

motion. The district court granted the State’s motion for summary dismissal, 

concluding postconviction relief is unavailable.

II 

[¶3] Woolsey argues the district court erred in concluding that postconviction 

relief is not available in juvenile adjudications.

[¶4] Under the Uniform Postconviction Procedure Act, N.D.C.C. ch. 29-32.1, “A 

person who has been convicted of and sentenced for a crime may institute a 

proceeding applying for relief.” N.D.C.C. § 29-32.1-01(1) (emphasis added). The 

purpose of the Act is to “furnish a method to develop a complete record to 

challenge a criminal conviction.” Davies v. State, 2018 ND 211, ¶ 9, 917 N.W.2d 8. 

Under the Juvenile Court Act, N.D.C.C. ch. 27-20.2, “An order of disposition or 

other adjudication in a proceeding under this chapter is not a conviction of crime 

and does not impose any civil disability ordinarily resulting from a conviction.” 

N.D.C.C. § 27-20.2-16(1); see also N.D.C.C. § 27-20-33(1) (repealed 2021) (same 

language); State v. Moses, 2022 ND 208, ¶ 10, 982 N.W.2d 321 (stating that 
2

“N.D.C.C. § 27-20-33 provides a general rule that a juvenile adjudication is not a 

conviction of crime” (quotations omitted)). In Moses, we recognized the firearm 

prohibition statute expressly created an exception to the general rule, allowing 

“a juvenile adjudication to be a conviction only for the limited purpose of 

deciding whether a person is prohibited from possessing a firearm.” 2022 ND 

208, ¶ 10. 

[¶5] The Uniform Postconviction Procedure Act contains many references to a 

“conviction,” see N.D.C.C. §§ 29-32.1-01, -03, -04(2), -11(3), -12(2), but does not 

make reference to juvenile adjudications. Given the plain language of chapter 29-

32.1 that relief is from a criminal conviction (or sentence) and the general rule 

that a juvenile adjudication is not a conviction of crime, we conclude the Uniform 

Postconviction Procedure Act, N.D.C.C. ch. 29-32.1, does not apply to juvenile 

adjudications.

[¶6] Woolsey argues it would be unjust to deny juveniles a procedure for relief 

where adults in the criminal context have such a procedure. This procedure, 

however, exists. Under N.D.R.Juv.P. 16, a party may move for relief from a 

juvenile order, including when “newly discovered evidence so requires.” 

N.D.R.Juv.P. 16(a)(3). Because Woolsey did not move under the juvenile 

procedure rules, that issue was not before the district court, and is not before this 

Court.

III

[¶7] We have considered the parties’ other arguments and determined they are 

either without merit or unnecessary to our decision. The order is affirmed. 

[¶8] Jon J. Jensen, C.J. 

Daniel J. Crothers 

Lisa Fair McEvers 

Jerod E. Tufte 

Douglas A. Bahr