Opinion ID: 2511886
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 11

Heading: mr. gardner files a third petition for post-conviction relief, which the district court dismisses

Text: ¶ 46 The petition we consider here was filed on May 4, 2010. This is Mr. Gardner's third state petition for post-conviction relief. The day after he filed this petition, he filed a Motion to Stay Execution. In his petition, Mr. Gardner raised two central claims: first, he argued that executing the judgment of death against him would violate his rights to equal protection and due process under the Utah and United States Constitutions because no court had fully and fairly considered all of the mitigating evidence developed in his case in order to determine whether he received ineffective assistance of counsel at the penalty phase of his trial; second, he argued that executing the judgment of death against him would constitute cruel and unusual punishment because, given that the crime for which he is being punished occurred twenty-five years ago, no deterrent or retributive purpose would be served by his execution. ¶ 47 Regarding his first claim, Mr. Gardner argued that every other currently living death row inmate was entitled to receive state funding for counsel and investigative resources in state post-conviction proceedings, and that since he was not, he was being treated differently than other similarly situated persons, which he argued violated his rights to equal protection under the state and federal constitutions. He argued that this deprivation of funding meant that he was not able to develop the prejudice prong of his penalty-phase ineffective assistance of counsel claim with expert testimony until his federal habeas corpus proceedings, and that as a result, no Utah court had ever been presented with the full range of mitigating evidence he was able to develop. And since the Tenth Circuit did not review this evidence de novo, but rather applied a deferential standard of review, Mr. Gardner argued that his due process rights were violated because no court has given his mitigation evidence a full and fair consideration. ¶ 48 Regarding his second claim, Mr. Gardner argued that because he committed the crime in 1985, executing him twenty-five years later no longer has deterrent value. Mr. Gardner also argued that because Mr. Burdell's family and friends do not want him to be executed, and because no jury had ever heard the full range of his mitigating evidence, the death penalty would also serve no retributive purpose. Mr. Gardner concluded that since the two primary purposes of punishment are deterrence and retribution, his execution would serve neither valid purpose, and would therefore be cruel and unusual punishment. ¶ 49 On May 14, 2010, the State moved for summary judgment on Mr. Gardner's claims for post-conviction relief. The State argued that Mr. Gardner's claims were untimely and procedurally barred under the PCRA, and that they were also meritless. Mr. Gardner responded that his claims were not procedurally barred under the PCRA because he had not and could not have brought them in an earlier petition for post-conviction relief. He argued his due process and equal protection claims were not untimely because the last fact giving rise to his claim that no court would give his ineffective assistance of counsel claim a full and fair consideration was the Tenth Circuit's refusal to apply a de novo standard of review in his federal habeas corpus case, [173] and he filed this petition within one year of learning of that fact, the time mandated by the PCRA. Mr. Gardner argued that his cruel and unusual punishment claim was not time barred because the passage of time is the basis of his claim and constitutes newly discovered evidence under the PCRA; that the relevant date for the purposes of this claim was the signing of his warrant of execution; and that he did not know his execution would serve no retributive purpose until the Tenth Circuit refused to review his mitigation evidence de novo. ¶ 50 But Mr. Gardner also argued that even if his claims were untimely or procedurally barred, the district court should still reach their merits. The Utah Constitution, Mr. Gardner argued, provides two exceptions to any time or procedural bar of the PCRA. First, Mr. Gardner argued an interests of justice exception exists for untimely claims. Second, he argued that Utah common law and the Utah Constitution allow for otherwise precluded claims to be examined for good cause shown. He argued that he had shown good cause for not bringing his claims in a prior petition and that both constitutional exceptions apply to any statute that might bar his current petition. ¶ 51 The district court agreed with the State, granted its motion for summary judgment, and dismissed Mr. Gardner's third petition for post-conviction relief. The district court found that Mr. Gardner's due process and equal protection claims were untimely because the conclusion of federal court review was not the relevant date for the PCRA statute of limitations, but rather the relevant date was the day on which Mr. Gardner became aware he had newly developed mitigation evidence, which was presented to the federal magistrate judge in September 1999. The district court concluded that the PCRA required Mr. Gardner to have brought this claim by September 2000, one year after having discovered the evidence. The district court also held that this claim was procedurally barred because the PCRA bars any claim that could have been, but was not, raised in a previous request for post-conviction relief. [174] Since Mr. Gardner filed a second petition for post-conviction relief on May 12, 2000, and that petition did not include his due process and equal protection claims, the district court held those claims were now barred. ¶ 52 The district court held Mr. Gardner's cruel and unusual punishment claim was also both untimely and procedurally barred. The district court held the claim was untimely because Mr. Gardner learned of the mitigation facts that arguably made his sentence serve no retributive value in 1999 and that, by that point, he had been on death row for fourteen years, which meant he was aware of the evidentiary factsi.e., the passage of timerelevant to his deterrence claim. The district court held the cruel and unusual punishment claim was procedurally barred because, like Mr. Gardner's other claim, it could have been brought in his second state petition for post-conviction relief in 2000. ¶ 53 Finally, the district court held that the good cause and interests of justice exceptions to the PCRA's time or procedural bars were no longer available as a result of recent amendments to the PCRA. The district court held that the intent of these amendments was to restrict any exceptions to the procedural bar rule to those found in the PCRA so that the PCRA was now the sole remedy for any person who wanted to collaterally challenge a conviction or sentence. For this reason, the district court declined to consider the merits of Mr. Gardner's claims under a good cause or interest of justice exception. ¶ 54 Following the district court's grant of summary judgment in favor of the State, Mr. Gardner filed a timely notice of appeal. We now consider the correctness of the district court's grant of summary judgment.