Opinion ID: 1833024
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: postconviction proceeding

Text: Miner then initiated this action for postconviction relief. He is represented by the same attorney who represented him on direct appeal. He alleged that his trial counsel was ineffective for failing to file a plea in bar to the charges and failing to offer evidence or remarks to the Court, at the time of sentencing, reflecting that the defendant had been sentenced in another county for charges relating to the same cattle upon which he was charged and sentenced in Holt County. He prayed for an order dismissing the charges or for a new sentencing hearing. An evidentiary hearing was held on the postconviction motion. The district court received evidence consisting of the record from the Holt County prosecution and appeal, portions of the record from the Nance County prosecution, and the deposition of Miner's trial counsel in the Holt County prosecution. The State offered no evidence. Subsequently, the district court entered an order denying Miner's motion for postconviction relief. The court noted that the State had conceded in its brief that the 26 head for which the defendant was convicted of receiving in Nance County were part of the 62 head the defendant was convicted of taking in Holt County and the evidence adduced at the hearing on the defendant's motion indicates the same. However, it concluded that these facts did not subject Miner to double jeopardy in the Holt County case, reasoning: In this case the defendant was convicted of taking 62 steers in Holt County having a value of $39,501.60 . . . and receiving 26 steers in Nance County having a value of $16,427.37. . . . The defendant was convicted of taking an additional 36 steers in Holt County. This distinction was recognized by defendant's trial counsel. . . . Because the Holt County case required proof of the taking of an additional 36 head of steers with a value in excess of $1,500 that the Nance County case did not, the court finds that any plea in bar filed on that basis would not have been sustained. There was no double jeopardy violation regarding the additional 36 head of steers taken in Holt County. Trial counsel's failure to file a plea in bar did not subject the defendant to any prejudice under the second prong of the Strickland [v. Washington [5] ] test. The district court also rejected Miner's sentencing claim, noting the record showed that the court was aware of the Nance County conviction at the time of sentencing on the Holt County conviction. Miner perfected this timely appeal, which we moved to our docket on our own motion pursuant to our statutory authority to regulate the caseloads of the appellate courts of this State. [6]