Campos v. State
Campos v. State
Opinion
Ezequiel Adan Campos appeals from the district court's judgment dismissing his petition for post-conviction relief. Campos argues that the district court erred in summarily dismissing his post-conviction claims because he presented genuine issues of material fact as to his ineffective assistance of trial counsel claim. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm.
*789 I.
FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
In 2016, pursuant to a plea agreement, Campos pled guilty to unlawful possession of a weapon,
In 2017, Campos filed a pro se petition for post-conviction relief raising numerous claims. Thereafter, Campos was appointed post-conviction counsel. Appointed counsel chose not to amend Campos' petition. As relevant to his claim on appeal, Campos alleged that his trial counsel was ineffective for leading him to believe that he would receive a concurrent sentence, and advising him to "simply agree in the 'positive' with what ever (sic) was ask[ed] at pleading" and counsel would address Campos' sentencing questions later pursuant to an Idaho Criminal Rule 35 motion. The State filed a motion for summary dismissal arguing that the claim was disproved by the record. After a hearing on the motion, the district court summarily dismissed Campos' petition. Campos timely appeals.
II.
ANALYSIS
A petition for post-conviction relief initiates a proceeding that is civil in nature. I.C. § 19-4907 ;
Rhoades v. State
,
Idaho Code Section 19-4906 authorizes summary dismissal of a petition for post-conviction relief, either pursuant to a motion by a party or upon the court's own initiative, if it appears from the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions and agreements of fact, together with 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. When considering summary dismissal, the district court must construe disputed facts in the petitioner's favor, but the court is not required to accept either the petitioner's mere conclusory allegations, unsupported by admissible evidence, or the petitioner's conclusions of law.
Roman v. State
,
Claims may be summarily dismissed if the petitioner's allegations are clearly disproven by the record of the criminal proceedings, if the petitioner has not presented evidence making a prima facie case as to each essential element of the claims, or if the petitioner's allegations do not justify relief as a matter of law.
Kelly v. State
,
Conversely, if the petition, affidavits, and other evidence supporting the petition allege facts that, if true, would entitle the petitioner to relief, the post-conviction claim may not be summarily dismissed.
Charboneau v. State
,
On appeal from an order of summary dismissal, we apply the same standards utilized by the trial courts and examine whether the petitioner's admissible evidence asserts facts which, if true, would entitle the petitioner to relief.
Ridgley v. State
,
A claim of ineffective assistance of counsel may properly be brought under the Uniform Post-Conviction Procedure Act.
Barcella v. State
,
In his petition for post-conviction relief, Campos alleged that counsel told him that his sentence would be concurrent and after he realized there was an error in his plea agreement and informed counsel, counsel told Campos to "lie" to the district court during the change of plea hearing and just "roll with it." Campos alleges that trial counsel told him that any errors regarding his sentence would be corrected later either during sentencing or pursuant to an I.C.R. 35 motion. Based on these allegations, Campos argues that his guilty plea was not knowing, voluntary, and intelligent and had he known that an agreement for his sentence to run concurrent with the Canyon County case did not actually exist, there is a reasonable probability that he would have rejected the plea agreement and proceeded to trial. The district court found that Campos' allegations were disproved by the record. We agree.
Campos made numerous assurances that he understood the terms of his plea agreement in the guilty plea advisory form. Specifically, Campos understood that according to the plea agreement, his sentence was open for argument and the district court was not bound by the plea agreement when imposing sentence. When asked in the guilty plea advisory form "what are the terms of th[e] plea agreement?" Campos handwrote "plead guilty to felon in pos[session] of firearm open sentencing." Campos circled "yes" when asked, "[d]o you understand that the only person who can promise what sentence you can actually receive is the Judge?" Additionally, Campos initialed next to the paragraph that stated he:
underst[ood] that the court is NOT bound by the plea agreement or any sentencing *791 recommendations, and may impose any sentence authorized by law, including the maximum sentence stated above. Because the court is not bound by the agreement, if the district court chooses not to follow the agreement, I will not have the right to withdraw my guilty plea.
Campos assured the court that no other promises were made to him that influenced his decision to plead guilty and he was doing so both freely and voluntarily. Finally, when asked, "[o]ther than in the plea agreement, has any person promised you that you will receive any special sentence, reward, favorable treatment, or leniency with regard to the plea you are about to enter?" Campos circled "No." Campos swore under penalty of perjury that his answers contained in the guilty plea advisory form were true and correct.
In his post-conviction petition, Campos acknowledges that, during the change of plea hearing, he assured the district court that his plea was freely and voluntarily made. Nonetheless, Campos claims that he was lying to the district court throughout the change of plea hearing based on the advice and assurances of his trial counsel. However, under oath, Campos' testimony at the change of plea hearing reaffirmed the same assurances that Campos made in the guilty plea advisory form. Furthermore, Campos' counsel explained the content of the plea agreement on the record stating, "he's going to plead guilty to Count II, a felon in possession of a firearm. The other counts would be dismissed. Sentencing is open to argument." Additionally, on two separate occasions the district court informed Campos that his sentence was open for argument. The court also explained,
Court: You understand that at sentencing I could decide to give you five years fixed?
Campos: Yes, sir.
Court: And I could make it consecutive to the Canyon County case?
Campos: Yes, Sir.
Campos contends that the district court is required to conduct an evidentiary hearing when, as here, the statements he makes in post-conviction are contrary to the statements he made incident to the guilty plea. However, this is exactly the situation where the appellate courts have held that the post-conviction claims are belied by the record and subject to summary dismissal.
See
Roman
,
III.
CONCLUSION
The district court did not err in granting the State's motion for summary dismissal. Therefore, the judgment of the district court summarily dismissing Campos' petition for post-conviction relief is affirmed.
Judge LORELLO and Judge BRAILSFORD concur.
We do not here address the circumstance where petitioner submits evidence in addition to the contradictory statements in support of the post-conviction claim.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.