Court Opinion

ID: 9632917
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 11:28:13.08109+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:02:07.265713
License: Public Domain

STRUCKMEYER, Chief Justice,
dissenting.
I cannot agree with the disposition of this case. The provisions of Rule 6.1(b) regarding appointment of counsel for indigents is not in conflict with the provisions of Rule 32.5(b). Rule 6.1(b) provides under what circumstances an indigent defendant shall be entitled to have an attorney appointed. Rule 32.5(b) provides if the petitioner desires appointed counsel, he shall complete under oath the questionnaire provided for in Rule 6.4(b) pertaining to his financial resources. If the court is satisfied that the petitioner is indigent, it shall appoint counsel. But Rule 32.5(b) should not be read in a vacuum. It should be read in the light of the language of Rule 6.1(b), which says that if a defendant is indigent, he is still entitled to appointed counsel only in “proceedings in which the court concludes that the interests of justice so require.”
The comment to Rule 32.5(b) recognizes that 32.5(b) must be read together with 6.1(b). The first sentence of the comment states:
“The procedures and standards for appointment of counsel are intended to conform with those in Rule 6.”
While it is to be recognized that to proceed without counsel is an inefficient method of treating the substantive merits of applications for post-conviction relief, the commentary to Rule 4.4, Standards Relating to Post-Conviction Remedies of the American Bar Association Standards for Criminal Justice, Approved Draft, specifically states:
“On the other hand, it is not necessary to appoint counsel for every application. If an application, in light of the state’s response, raises no claim cognizable in a post-conviction proceeding, it is wasteful to appoint counsel to determine solely if the applicant has some grounds for relief not stated in his original application.”
The application in the Superior Court of Pima County does not raise a claim cognizable in an Arizona post-conviction proceed*371ing. See Rule 32.1, which specifies the grounds for post-conviction relief. Petitioner asserted in his petition for post-conviction relief in Pima County “that he had been denied a fast and speedy trial and that he was excessively and harshly sentenced * * These are not grounds for relief under Rule 32.1. In State v. Salazar, 122 Ariz. 404, 406, 595 P.2d 196, the Court said:
“Rule 32.1 defines the scope of the remedy available and specifies the only permissible grounds for relief.”
This Court, in State v. Guthrie, 111 Ariz. 471, 473, 532 P.2d 862, said:
“Post conviction relief is not designed to add to the law’s delays by giving an accused three days in court where one is sufficient for doing substantial justice under fundamental law nor to grant an additional and fully repetitious appeal,
The Superior Court of Pima County recognized this, for after having examined Galaz’s application for post-conviction relief it entered the following order:
“The Court has received this date defendant’s petition for post conviction relief, it has reviewed the petition and files and records in this matter.
The Court is of the opinion that no material issue of fact or law exists which would entitle the petitioner to relief under Rule 32 and that no purpose would be served by any further proceedings.
IT IS ORDERED that the Petition is DENIED.”
Nonetheless, this Court now directs that this matter go back to the trial court for appointment of counsel. For what purpose! Seemingly to pursue matters which are not within the scope of post-conviction relief.
The opinion does not construe the rules of criminal procedure sensibly or as a harmonious whole. It requires counsel for every applicant for post-conviction relief even where “the interests of justice” do not require it. It places an unnecessary expense on the state to provide counsel, solely to the end that a convict can engage in frivolous attacks on his conviction and waste the time of both the court and county attorney.