Court Opinion

ID: 9884848
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-10-06 03:17:29.48551+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:48:41.303557
License: Public Domain

FOLEY, Judge
(dissenting).
I dissent from the majority. I would accept the appeal and consider its merits because the appeal was timely filed based on the date the prosecutor actually received notice of the entry of judgment. This notice of entry was delayed only because the clerk of court failed to carry out his legally-mandated duty, to immediately upon the entry of the order “mail to each party a copy thereof and * * * make a record of the mailing.” Minn.R.Crim.P. 33.03.
The requirement to mail implies an affirmative duty to mail the order to the last known address of the party via the United States- Postal Service. Here, the clerk of court put the order in a self-made box, located in the county courthouse, on August 8, 1985. These boxes were apparently constructed for use by local attorneys, although not all local attorneys were willing to use this system. The prosecutor does not have offices within the courthouse.
This court should not condone the clerk’s failure to comply with the rules. See Tombs v. Ashworth, 255 Minn. 55, 63, 95 N.W.2d 423, 428 (1959). The failure to receive notice of the entry of judgment can only be attributed to the clerk’s failure to follow the rules. There is no indication that appropriate mailed notice was attempted.
Although Minn.R.Crim.P. 28.04, subd. 2(2) establishes a five-day period for a prosecutor to appeal a pretrial order following its entry, this rule is intertwined with the presumption that the clerk of court will follow the mandate of Minn.R.Crim.P. 33.-03 to immediately mail a copy of the order to each party. Read together, these rules clearly intend the prosecutor be granted only a short period in which to act. If a mailed notice takes three days, the prosecutor would have two days to act. Here, the prosecutor filed his notice of appeal two days after receiving a copy of the entered order. I do not believe this interpretation of the rules expands the prosecutor’s right to appeal as implied by the majority. Instead, I think the majority opinion takes away a right accorded the prosecutor by the rules.