Court Opinion

ID: 9372628
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-02-21 23:06:16.302583+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:16:36.554994
License: Public Domain

02/21/2023

Supreme Court of the State of Montana,                      Cause No. DA 22-0146                Case Number: DA 22-0146

     I am writing this letter to explain the current situation involving an appeal in Cause
Number DA 22-0146. The appeal that was submitted to this court for review was not fully
briefed due to inadequate representation by counsel.
       My current retained counsel of record on this case is Michael Klinkhammer from
Klinkhammer Law Offices in Kalispell, Montana. I did not have money to retain an attorney but
my mother Debra Gafford obtained a loan from the equity of her home to secure money to
retain counsel for me. Once my Mother obtained the money she hired Mr. Klinkhammer to
represent me and provided Mr. Klinkhammer with a $5,000 retainer fee. My Mother never
received a receipt for the $5,000 and she only was given a business card with $5,000 written on
it.

       During the time Mr. Klinkhammer has been representing rne, the entire situation has
been very difficult. Mr. Klinkhammer is almost impossible to get ahold of and the few times
when I am able to make contact with him I get very inconsistent answers from him and it seems
like l always get a runaround. l have been told by him that after he filed a Notice of Appearance
in my case and represented me in sentencing that it was a conflict of interest to represent me
in my appeal. After I asked how it was a conflict I could not seem to get a straight answer out of
him. Eventually, he decided that he could represent me in my appeal and he requested, and
was provided another $2000 for what he stated was for court transcripts. Shortly after that, his
phone was shut off for several months so it would go directly to his voicemail, which was
almost always full so no messages could be left. After several months of Mr. Klinkhammer's
phone having all calls being sent directly to voicemail, Mr. Klinkhammer finally called my
mother and stated that he didn't think he could do my appeal because he did not see any
appealable issues and that he would return about half of the money (because he did represent
me during my sentencing in this case) to my mother, but said that he did not have any money
at the moment. He also stated that he would give all my paperwork (court records) back to me.

        As soon as my mother relayed this information to me and due to the constant
shitftyness and runarounds, I called Mr. Klinkhammer and my call was once again directly
forwarded to his voicemail and I left a message specifically stating that I needed my paperwork
back and that I did not want him to file my appeal and to refund my mother the money had
given him. After I left the initial message and did not hear from him, I called again and left
another very clear message that I did not want him to do my appeal and requested rny
paperwork back and the money being returned to my mother.

         Several months later Mr. Klinkhammer showed up one day to visit me in the Lake
County Detention Center and handed me a stack of papers and a spiraled copy of his opening

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brief for my appeal. After specifically telling him that I did not want him to represent me
numerous times in very clear voice messages on his phone, he filed the opening brief anyways.
After Mr. Klinkhammer left, I was examining the Opening Brief he filed and saw that many of
the issues that 1 specifically wanted raised that were preserved in District Court for appeal
purposes (that I told Mr. Klinkhammer l wanted raised in previous discussions prior to hirn
being shifty about whether he could or could not file the appeal and myself stating that l did
not want him to do my appeal) were not raised in his opening brief. l also felt that the Opening
Brief wasn't done adequately.

        The next day I called him and was able to leave a message, and the call was returned by
Mr. Klinkhammer's paralegal named Tommi. I stated that Mr. Klinkhammer did not raise the
issues I wanted in the appeal and I also stated that I didn't want the opening brief he filed in the
court and told her that I wanted Mr. Klinkhammer to withdraw the opening brief and withdraw
from my case and send my appeal to the Office of Appelate Defenders and Tommi told me that
Mike (Mr. Klinkhammer) is one of the best brief writers and that he would finish my appeal and
he was going to do it. Mr. Klinkhammer did not withdraw the brief or withdraw from my case as
requested.

       After Mr. Klinkhammer's opening brief was responded to by the state, Mr. Klinkhammer
never provided me with a copy of the states response and I had to ask my other attorney, Jeff
N. Wilson, appealing another case in DA 21-0649 to provide me with the State's response to
Mr. Klinkhammer's Opening Brief. Mr. Wilson did in fact provide me with a copy of the State's
Response and also provided me a letter with a screenshot of the Montana Supreme Court's
Register of Actions to make me aware of Mr. Kiinkhammer's actions or rather inactions by
failing to file an absolutely neccesary Reply Brief in my appeal. (See Exhibit A).

        Mr. Klinkhammer did not even attempt to teli me that he did not file a Reply Brief and it
seems like he was trying to hide this fact. l have tried to Contact Mr. Klinkhammer regarding
him failing to file a Reply Brief in my case and he will not answer my calls. My mother has also
attempted to contact Mr. Klinkhammer about this and he has not returned her calls, Without
Mr. Wilson providing me the letter with the screenshot of the Montana Supreme Court's
Register of Actions, l would never have known that Mr. Klinkhammer did not file a Reply Brief in
my appeal and the Montana Supreme Court would have made a ruling based upon an
incomplete appeal.

        Mr. Klinkhammcr filed an opening brief in my case and failed to file a reply brief after I
specifically told him not to even do my appeal and requested that he remove himself from my
case. There is no logical reason why a Reply Brief should not have been filed and I have suffered
judicial prejudice due to this failure. The representation that Mr. Klinkhammer has provided me
has been completely inadequate considering the obviously apparent circumstances and l have
been dealing with constant runarounds and excuses in the rare times I am able to contact him.

       To be very clear in the relief I am requesting, I am respectfully asking the Montana
Supreme Court to please vacate the current review of the incomplete appeal, withdraw Mr.
Klinkhammer's Opening Brief and the State's Response, remove Mr. Klinkhammer from my case
and forward the case to the Office of Appellate Defenders to redo my appeal properly and to
completion to prevent a serious miscarriage of justice.

        71-1-iank You.

Respectfully,

Tyler Fredrick Erickson

                                                  ),/cA/a3
                                                                                               APPELLATE DEFENDER DIVISION
                                                   MONTANA STATF                               P.O. Box 200147
                                                                                                                           i
                                                   PUBLIC
                                                   DEFENDER
                                                                                               Helena, MT 59620
                                                                                               T: (406) 444-9505           t   E X 1-4 1 g
                                                                                               Toll Free: (888) 251-6101

 February 2, 2023                                                                   LEGAL MAIL — CONFIDENTIAL
                                                                                    ATTORNEY-CLIENT COMMUNICATION
 Tyler Erickson
 DOC ID# 3013413
 Lake County Detention Center
 Polson, MT 59860

 Re: State v. Erickson, Montana Supreme Court Case DA 21-0649 (DC-15-227)

 Dear Mr. Erickson:

 Enclosed with this letter, I am providing a copy of your Appellee Response in DA 22-
 0146 (the Klinkhammer appeal of your drug conviction involving the informant).
 Hopefully you can read the small print. As I mentioned on the phone, the Supreme
 Court's online docket for this case showed Klinkhammer got an extension to file a
 Reply Brief, but did not file one by the extended deadline, and the Supreme Court
 `sent the case to Court,' which I take to mean it considers the case fully briefed.
 Below is a screenshot of the docket. You should contact Klinkhammer for more
 information.

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   Case Number DA .t.:D146
   jurisdiction: Supreme Cowl
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   full TRU: STATE OF VICeirxIA, Pawl ?• A:ce.'s.e. Ti LER rPE DEP(it EZCKSfYi. Dekr .Ta   a^C A.Sce
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   Cast Filing Deer W45:2022
   Origination Court Case Number S:
     &I Display Party Information

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