Opinion ID: 2353039
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Carmichael v. State

Text: [¶ 2] On July 21, 1999, Stephen Carmichael was convicted of one count of gross sexual assault (Class A), 17-A M.R.S.A. § 253 (Supp. 1998), for conduct that occurred on May 31, 1998. The court determined that Carmichael met the requirements for a sentence exceeding twenty years, and sentenced him to thirty-five years in prison, none of which was suspended. [1] Carmichael appealed the decision to us and we affirmed the conviction in a memorandum of decision in June 2000. [¶ 3] Days after our decision, the United States Supreme Court decided Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 120 S.Ct. 2348, 147 L.Ed.2d 435 (2000). Although Carmichael could have, he did not file a writ of certiorari to the United States Supreme Court seeking review of our decision in light of Apprendi. [¶ 4] In September 2000, Carmichael filed his first post-conviction petition. In July 2003, the Superior Court denied the petition. In May 2004, we denied his motion for a certificate of probable cause to review the denial of his petition. A month after the United States Supreme Court decided Blakely, Carmichael filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the federal District Court. In August 2004, Carmichael filed his second post-conviction petition in the Superior Court. Consequently, the United States District Court for the District of Maine ( Woodcock, J. ) stayed the habeas corpus proceedings until the resolution of the state petition. [¶ 5] In May 2005, the Superior Court (Somerset County, Mills, J. ) dismissed Carmichael's second post-conviction petition. The court reasoned that the rule in Blakely does not apply retroactively to cases on collateral appeal, and therefore the appeal was untimely. Carmichael then filed a motion to reconsider, which the court denied. [¶ 6] This request for a certificate of probable cause followed. On April 3, 2006, we issued a consolidated order granting certificates of probable cause in Carmichael v. State and Ashby v. State. In June 2006, the State moved to stay Carmichael's and Ashby's cases after the United States Supreme Court granted certiorari in Burton v. Waddington, 142 Fed.Appx. 297 (9th Cir.2005), cert. granted, ___ U.S. ___, 126 S.Ct. 2352, 165 L.Ed.2d 278 (U.S. June 5, 2006) (No. 05-9222), which could have resolved the issues before us. We granted that motion. However, in Burton v. Stewart, ___ U.S. ___, 127 S.Ct. 793, 166 L.Ed.2d 628 (2007), vacating sub nom. Burton v. Waddington, 142 Fed.Appx. 297, the Court did not reach the retroactivity issues surrounding Blakely. On January 22, 2007, we issued a consolidated order lifting the stay order on Carmichael's and Ashby's petitions.