State v. Brooks, Unpublished Decision (7-14-1999)
State v. Brooks, Unpublished Decision (7-14-1999)
Opinion of the Court
Defendant-appellant, Victor C. Brooks, appeals from the Lorain County Court of Common Pleas' denial of his petition for postconviction relief and motion to withdraw a guilty plea. We affirm.
On December 12, 1995, a Lorain County Grand Jury indicted Defendant for two counts of Aggravated Trafficking in Drugs in violation of R.C. Possession Possessingof Criminal Tools in violation of R.C.petitionfor postconviction relief and, in the alternative, a motion towithdraw a guilty plea "petition to vacate or set aside sentence or conviction * * *, or in the alternative, motion to withdraw guilty plea" based upon ineffective assistance of counsel. The trial court denied the petition and motion on May 1, 1998.
Defendant timely appealed and has raised three assignments of error.
The trial court erred in granting the State's motion for summary judgment, that is, the state's failure to comply with Civil Rule 56, and there exists a genuine issue of material fact and [a] constitutional issue exist[s].
Defendant argues that the trial court erred in granting summary judgment in favor of the State. Because the record fails to indicate that the trial court entered summary judgment in favor of the state or that the State moved for summary judgment, his assignment of error is overruled.
The trial court erred in not holding a[n] evidentiary hearing.
The trial court erred in dismissing the petition on its merits, that is, fact and law requires granting relief in the particular case.
Because Defendant's second and third assignments relate to whether Defendant presented substantive grounds for postconviction relief to entitle him to a hearing and to relief, we will discuss them together. Although the trial court denied Defendant's petition based upon res judicata, we find that Defendant's petition should have been denied as untimely filed.
Defendant's motion is styled in the alternative as a petition for postconviction relief and motion to withdraw guilty plea. Because the motion is based upon alleged violations of his constitutional rights, it is most properly considered as a petition for postconviction relief. See State v. Reynolds (1997),
R.C.
A petition under division (A)(1) of this section shall be filed no later than one hundred eighty days after the date on which the trial transcript is filed in the court of appeals in the direct appeal of the judgment of conviction or adjudication * * *. If no
tappeal is taken, the petition shall be filed no later than one hundred eighty days after the expiration of the time for filing the appeal.
Defendant was sentenced on May 3, 1996, and his sentence was amended on May 17, 1996 by a nunc pro tunc order. Factoring in the thirty days for filing a notice of appeal from the date of the amended sentencing entry, Defendant's petition for postconviction relief needed to be filed by December 13, 1996, in order to be timely filed. Because Defendant filed his petition on April 16, 1998, the petition was not timely filed.
R.C.
A review of Defendant's petition reveals that he argued that his counsel was ineffective for not informing the court about the quantity of drugs that he was possessing and was trafficking.According to Defendant, these amounts were less than the amountsrequired for the charges that he pleaded guilty to. Nonetheless, Defendant failed to address (1) whether he was unavoidably prevented from discovering these facts, or (2) whether a new federal or state right had been recognized by the United States Supreme Court. See. R.C.
All three of Defendant's assignments of error are overruled. The judgment of the trial court is affirmed.
Judgment affirmed.
We order that a special mandate issue out of this Court, directing the Lorain County Court of Common Pleas to carry this judgment into execution. A certified copy of this journal entry shall constitute the mandate, pursuant to App.R. 27.
Immediately upon the filing hereof, this document shall constitute the journal entry of judgment, and it shall be file stamped by the Clerk of the Court of Appeals at which time the period for review shall begin to run. App.R. 22(E).
Costs taxed to appellant.
Exceptions.
___________________________ LYNN C. SLABY
FOR THE COURT
CARR, J.
WHITMORE, J.
CONCUR
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