Opinion ID: 884966
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Sixth Claim for Relief

Text: ¶ 53 Gollehon maintains that this Court should reconsider its rulings on issues Nos. 5 and 7 because at the time the case was decided, this Court was not properly constituted pursuant to §§ 3-2-101, 3-5-201, 3-1-1010 and -14, MCA, Article II, Sections 4, 13, 16, 17, 34, and Article VII, Section 3, of the Montana Constitution. ¶ 54 Gollehon contends that the substitution at oral argument of District Judge Lympus for Justice McDonough, violated the Montana Constitution because Justice McDonough suffered neither disqualification nor disability and merely failed to participate because of his retirement from the Court. Therefore, issues Nos. 5 and 7 of Gollehon's appeal were resolved in part by a judge who had no authority or jurisdiction to act. To the extent that the Court was lawfully constituted, issues Nos. 5 and 7 were resolved by an equally divided court. Therefore, these issues should be determined by the present lawfully constituted Court. The Petitioner asserts that since this is a matter of jurisdiction of this Court, the issued can be raised at any time. See § 46-13-101(3), MCA. ¶ 55 Gollehon was aware of the substitution of Judge Lympus prior to oral argument, yet failed to raise this issue at oral argument or in his Petition for Rehearing. Postconviction relief is not available upon claims that a petitioner could have raised on direct appeal. We further note that § 46-21-105(2), MCA, contains no exception to the application of the procedural bar for issues related to jurisdiction. Also, § 46-13-101(1), MCA, relates to objections which are required to be made pretrial, and therefore is not relevant here. ¶ 56 The Sixth Claim for Relief is denied. Therefore, ¶ 57 IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the Amended Petition for Postconviction Relief is denied. ¶ 58 The Clerk of Court is directed to mail a true and correct copy of this order to all parties of record. ¶ 59 DATED this 9th day of September, 1999. J.A. TURNAGE, C.J., JIM REGNIER, JAMES C. NELSON, WILLIAM E. HUNT, SR., W. WILLIAM LEAPHART, KARLA M. GRAY and TERRY N. TRIEWEILER, JJ., concur.