Court Opinion

ID: 9684948
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 14:19:07.091205+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:18:01.254344
License: Public Domain

SEILER, Senior Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. I would remand with directions to give the defendant a hearing on the merits on his original claim, something which has not yet taken place despite this case having been in the court system for years. The original rule 27.26 motion was filed in 1976.
Rule 27.26 is designed to decide claims on the merits, not on technical grounds. Defendant’s original motion alleged ineffective assistance of counsel in failing to interview the witnesses, both state and defense, failure to preserve trial errors, and failure of the state to disclose in full the agreement made with certain state witnesses. If this motion did not state the claim in sufficient particularity, it at the least stated enough to be susceptible of amendment to state a valid claim, so that the merits of the claim could be reached, an evidentiary hearing held, and the matter disposed of on the merits.
Failure to dispose of the claim on the merits by an evidentiary hearing is what has prolonged this litigation over a period of years. An examination of rule 27.26 cases will show that where there has been an evidentiary hearing and the case decided on the merits, the matter comes to an end. It is the case where there is no evidentiary hearing, despite the fact that the claim sought to be presented is centered on a factual dispute, as in the case here, which will not die. The present post conviction case has three times been in the circuit court, twice in the court of appeals, and now it is here. This represents a large expenditure of time by the courts, most of which could have been avoided by having had an early evidentiary hearing and then and there disposing of the case on the merits.