Court Opinion

ID: 9644873
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 21:07:02.982454+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:11:19.389093
License: Public Domain

John I. Purtle, Justice, dissenting. Once again this court has rendered an opinion clearly contrary to our Rules of Criminal Procedure. As stated in the majority opinion the appellant’s Rule 37 petition was denied without a hearing and without written findings of fact. This is clearly contradictory to Rule 37.4(a) which reads as follows: If the motion and files and records of the case conclusively show that the prisoner is entitled to no relief, the trial court shall make written findings to that effect, specifying any parts of the files or records that are relied upon to sustain the court’s findings. I cannot understand how this Rule could be confusing or subject to more than one interpretation. A petitioner under Rule 37.1 is entitled to have a meaningful consideration of his petition. That is the reason Rule 37.4(a) requires written findings of fact. If we are going to continue to serve as trier of fact, as we did in this case, and require the attorney general to investigate and prepare these cases, then we may as well have the petitions filed directly in this court. When there is an appeal from a complete denial of a Rule 37 petition without findings of fact, the record must in some manner be supplemented in order for us to make an honest and fair decision. In the present case a trial transcript was available only because we had previously granted the appellant the right to appeal. But seldom will we have the trial record available. The logical and practical way to avoid such situations is to require the trial courts to follow Rule 37.4(a). Also, in fairness to petitioners and this court, we ought not to ignore the rules and engage in trial fact finding proceedings, and then sit in judgment as the appellate court in the same case.