Court Opinion

ID: 9743704
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 21:40:53.927499+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:42.865214
License: Public Domain

*70PRENTICE, Justice,
dissenting.
In this case the majority turns the rules of appellate review upside down. At 67. There is no authority for the proposition that a petitioner for post conviction relief, who prevails in the trial court, bears the burden of demonstrating the correctness of the judgment on appeal. To the contrary, it is the responsibility of the appellant, in this case the State, to present a sufficient record which reveals error in the trial court's judgment:
"We remind the state that this court presumes that the trial court has correctly decided the questions presented below and that appellant has the burden of overcoming this presumption by clearly showing the trial court's error."
State v. Kuespert, (1980) Ind.App., 411 N.E.2d 435, 438.
The State urges that the shoe be placed on the other foot through a twisted reading of the post conviction rules, because the record reveals that the judgment was rendered without benefit of the State's input, albeit due to the State's negligence. In response to the judgment, the State filed a motion to correct errors and a "Motion For Relief From Judgment," which invoked Ind. R.Tr.P. 60(B)(1) and (8) and cited Soft Water Utilities, Inc. v. LeFevre, (1973) 261 Ind. 260, 301 N.E.2d 745. It appears, although by no means completely proved, that the St. Joseph County Prosecutor's office expected the Porter County Prosecutor's office to appear, and the Porter County Prosecutor's office, which had notice of the hearing on the petition, expected the St. Joseph County Prosecutor's office to appear. The criminal prosecution in this matter had been venued from St. Joseph County to Porter County. The problem seems to have originated with the trial court's bailiff; however, regardless of the representations that she may or may not have made about who would or should appear for the State, she had no authority to relieve the Porter County Prosecutor of his obligation to appear under Ind.R.P.C. Rule 1, § 9(b). Consequently, the State presented no grounds for granting a Trial Rule 60(B) motion. Nevertheless, despite the opportunity at the hearing upon such motion and upon the motion to correct errors, the State presented no evidence whatever to indicate that the trial court's judgment was erroneous. As a result, the record contains absolutely no reason to reverse such judgment.
In addition to ignoring a fundamental rule of appellate review, the majority also ignores Ind.R.P.C. Rule 1, § 4(f):
"The court may grant a motion by either party for summary disposition of the petition when it appears from the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, admissions, stipulations of fact, and any affidavits submitted, that there is no genuine issue of material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law."
The State has not shown that summary judgment was inappropriate in this case nor that the trial judge did not rely upon this section as authority.
The majority's reasoning seemingly proceeds from the erroneous premise that the appellee pursued this appeal; thus he may be charged with failure to abide by the appellant's responsibilities concerning the preparation of an adequate record. I am aware of no rules or cases, and the majority cites none, which so provide. Under the cireumstances presented, as a court of review, we are first and only obliged to consider if the appellant, in this case the State, has presented a record which discloses that the trial court's judgment is erroneous. The State has failed in this burden, and accordingly, the judgment of the trial court should be affirmed.