Opinion ID: 1386258
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Introduction and Outline

Text: Consideration of this death penalty appeal within the limited issues raised on initial appeal and the broad based attack now made in post-conviction relief requires application of three different concepts. First, the heightened scrutiny standard of review for death penalty cases requires recognition. Second is the limitation that post-conviction relief addresses a constitutional issue which is found in this case to be primarily ineffectiveness of appellate counsel in failure to raise the issues in initial appeal. Finally, constitutional forfeiture by procedural default is presented in contended waiver by the omission of appellate counsel in the initial appeal since Cutbirth v. State, 751 P.2d 1257 (Wyo. 1988) must also be considered. I cannot join the majority of this court for guilt phase resolution which justifies the conviction by a combination of our absolution and denial of procedural default committed by both trial and appellate counsel. This court should assess these concepts within post-conviction-relief review standards applicable to a capital case. I will pursue the substantive issues, including denied testimony of Engberg's wife, expert eyewitness identification and hypnotism of a witness. Other Engberg II issues will only be considered to the extent that consideration will be helpful for future cases, although I will not significantly reconsider the issues raised and determined in initial appeal which occurred before I came on this court. This is not a broad based sufficiency of the evidence case but instead confined to post-conviction-relief review of W.S. 7-14-101 through 7-14-108 initially enacted by the Wyoming legislature to address constitutional issues in criminal convictions. Present discussion is developed within a massive body of case law since this homicide occurred and also since the opinion in Engberg I was written. Thousands of appellate death penalty decisions have been published and segmented issues, penalty or guilt, have been addressed by the United States Supreme Court in at least thirty significant decisions. [3]