Court Opinion

ID: 9773272
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 17:41:00.568129+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:31:51.386806
License: Public Domain

RENDLEN, Judge,
dissenting.
For the reasons following, I respectfully dissent. In holding that Rule 51.05 no longer has application to proceedings under Rule 24.035 and in distinguishing Rules 24.035 and 29.15 from our prior procedures under Rule 27.26, the majority shrugs aside the fact that Rule 51.05 has for good reason been carefully and uniformly applied to proceedings under our current Rule 29.15, DeBold v. State, 772 S.W.2d 29 (Mo.App.1989); Mack v. State, 775 S.W.2d 288 (Mo.App.1989), as it was under its precursor, Rule 27.26. E.g., Toney v. State, 770 S.W.2d 411 (Mo.App.1989); Fulsom v. State, 573 S.W.2d 116 (Mo.App.1978). The rules speak for themselves and have been properly construed until today, recognizing that the right to a change of judge is firmly established not only by the rules but by statute. Rule 51.05; § 517.061, RSMo 1986. As the right to change of judge evolved, the procedural requirements have been modified from time to time; in 1973 Rule 51.03 was modified, and again by minor amendment in 1975. The right of litigants to a change of judge each time was enhanced. Formerly, a change of judge could be obtained only for the causes enumerated in Rule 51.03 (effective 1964); however, by the referenced modifications, the party seeking a change of judge need not allege or prove any cause. “The right to a change of judge is placed in the category of the peremptory jury challenge.” Natural Bridge Development Co. v. St. Louis County Water Co., 563 S.W.2d 522, 525 (Mo.App.1978). Further, “[i]t is a fundamental principle of our jurisprudence that every litigant should have all of the issues of law and fact involved in his case decided by an impartial and unprejudiced tribunal, body, or officer.” Ely, Right to Change of Venue or Change of Judge Under the Missouri Constitution, 20 Mo. L.Rev. 13 (1955). “Where the trial judge is biased or prejudiced in a particular case the only guarantee of a fair trial can be found in the substitution of another judge.” Id. at p. 15. Without compelling rationale, the majority today departs from previously established procedure and denies this substantial right to litigants in a postconviction proceeding.
In effectively abrogating Rule 51.05 in the postconviction context, the majority ignores the central purpose of the rule: the right of a litigant to obtain a change of judge without cause is designed to eliminate any real or suspected traces of bias. The majority complains that a change of judge on a postconviction motion will remove the “judicial officer best acquainted with the case,” at p. 366, and cause the case to be reviewed without that judge’s “personal experience;” however, that judge may also have the greatest bias, the very evil Rule 51.05 is designed to prevent. This new action brought by a litigant raising new claims (i.e., a 29.15 or 24.035 motion) is a civil action, see State v. Gilmore, 617 S.W.2d 581, 583 (Mo.App.1981), in which the procedures under those rules are in many particulars especially tailored and expressly provided. When the rule (29.15 or 24.035) directs a particular act or manner of process, such requirement must be met and takes precedence over any contrary procedural requirement of the civil rules. However, where 29.15 or 24.035 is silent, we are required to follow the Rules of Civil Procedure (Rule 29.15(a) and 24.-035(a)). Many of the Rules of Civil Procedure (Rule 41 through Rule 100) by their very nature have no possible connection nor application to postconviction proceed*369ings; for example, Masters and Receivers, Rule 68; Trial by Jury, Rule 69; Verdicts, Rule 71; and Civil Executions, Rule 76. However, the Committees of our Court, when considering this matter, and this Court when adopting our rules for postcon-viction proceedings, recognized this fact and specified that the procedure in such cases “is governed by the Rules of Civil Procedure insofar as applicable.” Rule 24.-035(a); Rule 29.15(a). This is designed to avoid consideration of matters beyond the scope of 29.15 or 24.035 and inapplicable provisions in the civil rules, or those which by their terms are contrary to or inconsistent with express provisions of Rules 29.15 or 24.035. It is not intended that we selectively declare inapplicable provisions of the rules which (after the fact) we suddenly find personally distasteful in a current case to the prejudice of an aggrieved litigant. Today the majority is not overruling or modifying common law precedent; it is amending codified rules. The amending mode employed here is in my opinion improper, unwarranted and contrary to approved procedure for the adoption of such rules.
Further, the majority’s postulation that a change of judge “builds in” “unnecessary delay” is quite illusory. Change of judge orders may be processed rapidly and a punctual hearing held in a manner consistent with the time limitations of Rules 29.15 and 24.035. To suggest that the “purpose” of the rules to promptly process postconviction proceedings requires that we abandon the established and firmly understood meaning of Rule 51.05 and its application to the “civil proceedings” under Rules 29.-15 and 24.035 is simply unjustified. If we are to emasculate the rules in this manner, the good sense and predictability of practice thereunder becomes a will-o’-the-wisp. When we decide to change our rules, it should be done in the customary manner and with published notice to the bar, not in the fashion employed by the majority.
The question remains, however, as to how former Rule 51.05 is to be applied to a postconviction motion. The rule in effect at the time of defendant’s motion provided that the application must be filed within thirty days after the answer is due, if the trial judge is designated at that time. Rule 24.035 does not require a formal answer to the pleading, but provides that “[a]ny response to the motion by the prosecutor shall be filed within ten days after the date an amended motion is due to be filed.” I would mark the time for filing the change of judge application from the time the response to the 24.035 motion is due, even though the response is not mandatory. To this extent the reasoning of DeBold, 772 S.W.2d 29, and Toney, 770 S.W.2d 411, holding that the time for filing the application for change of judge should date from the time the trial judge was designated, should not be followed.
I would reverse the judgment and remand the cause with directions to grant the application for change of judge, and thereafter for further proceedings on appellant’s motion.