Opinion ID: 874426
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Smith's counsel's failure to assert due process claims regarding the district court's review, including the right to review the information considered by the district court, constituted ineffective assistance of counsel.

Text: On appeal, Smith asserts that trial counsel was ineffective for failing to properly preserve Smith's due process challenge to the judicial review process, including Smith's right to review the sealed file. Smith's trial counsel asserted that the proceedings before the district court violated his due process rights: The procedure by which this review is supposed to take place is not one that even facially provides adequate due process if you follow the sequence that's set forth in the statute. I think that this court and counsel for the state have endeavored to inject due process into these proceedings and we are very grateful for that, but I think that the statute itself is challengeable as not providing for either adequate notice or for a meaningful hearing which is required under the constitutional provisions which I have just cited earlier. The district court concluded that this challenge was not timely raised. As with the two preceding claims, we conclude that the absence of identifiable strategic or tactical considerations which might explain the timing of this belated challenge demonstrates that trial counsel provided deficient performance. The district court identified the nature of prejudice resulting from the denial of access to the information upon which the Board relied, indicating that its serious reservations concerning the validity of the review process were, in part, based upon the lack of information provided to the parties concerning the basis for the SOCB's designation. For the reasons stated in Part II(A)(2) of this opinion, we believe that the statutory denial of access to the information which the district court utilizes in making its decision deprives the offender of meaningful notice of that which he is attempting to challenge and consequently, it deprives the offender of any meaningful opportunity to be heard. As discussed in Part II(B) of this opinion, the sealed file contained information that the district court found to be significant and to which Smith's attorney was not privy. We are unable to conclude that Smith has been appropriately evaluated as presenting a risk of reoffending without affording Smith the opportunity to defend his case on the merits with knowledge of that to which he is responding. It is significant that most of the provisions of the Bill of Rights are procedural, for it is procedure that marks much of the difference between rule by law and rule by fiat. Constantineau, 400 U.S. at 436, 91 S.Ct. at 509, 27 L.Ed.2d at 518. Trial counsel's failure to assert due process challenges before the district court, including seeking access to the contents of the sealed file, resulted in prejudice to Smith.