Court Opinion

ID: 9513791
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-06 22:40:35.9834+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:06:02.322240
License: Public Domain

VANDE WALLE,
Chief Justice, concurring specially.
[¶ 22] I understand Justice Maring’s concern over the issue of timeliness and join in that concern insofar as it involves general post-conviction proceedings. However, in the instance of a motion to withdraw a plea of guilty, we have, as the majority notes, generally treated it as one made under Rule 82(d), N.D.R.Crim.P. Greywind v. State, 2004 ND 213, ¶ 7, 689 N.W.2d 390. Because Rule 32 has a timeliness requirement I agree with the majority opinion that we can consider timeliness although, as Justice Maring notes, I would have preferred that the issue had been adequately briefed and argued.
[¶ 23] I am more concerned that the majority opinion will be used as precedent for applying a timeliness requirement to other post-conviction proceedings for which there is no timeliness requirement. As Justice Maring also notes, there is no timeliness requirement in N.D.C.C. ch. 29-32.1. Significantly, in McGuire v. Warden of State Farm, 229 N.W.2d 211, 215 (N.D.1975), in responding to an argument attacking the constitutionality of the post-conviction act as a restriction on the right to habeas corpus, this Court concluded the statutes are not less favorable to the accused than the habeas corpus provisions:
If the provisions of the Uniform Post-Conviction Procedure Act were less favorable to the accused than the constitutional right of habeas corpus, we would necessarily have to hold the Uniform Post-Conviction Procedure Act to that extent unconstitutional, in view of the peremptory mandate of the Constitution of North Dakota, Section 5, that:
“The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended unless, when in case of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require.”
[¶ 24] The Constitution has since been amended and the provision relied upon in McGuire is now found in Article I, Section *2614. See also Jensen v. State, 373 N.W.2d 894 (N.D.1985) (concluding post-conviction procedure act was never intended to wholly replace habeas corpus.) Thus the Legislature and this Court necessarily must exercise caution in limiting the rights of defendants to bring post-conviction proceedings lest those restrictions create issues concerning the constitutionality of the post-conviction process.
[¶ 25] GERALD W. VANDE WALLE, C.J.