State v. Peeples, Unpublished Decision (1-16-2003)
State v. Peeples, Unpublished Decision (1-16-2003)
Opinion of the Court
{¶ 2} Defendant-appellant, Kavin Peeples, pro se, appeals the trial court's denial of his sixth petition for post-conviction relief.1 Defendant pleaded guilty to attempted murder in 1987 and was sentenced to a term of eight to twenty-five years, which was later amended to seven to twenty-five years.
{¶ 3} Defendant states four assignments of error,2 the first of which states:
{¶ 4} "I. To meet the fairness component of constitutional due process a layman of the law should be allowed to raise previously raised errors which where [sic] denied res judicata in instances in which the petitioner received no assistance from professional legal experts or even from the prison law library on his initial post-conviction petition, and had no experience in the law."
{¶ 5} Defendant argues that laymen should not be held to the rule of res judicata. Specifically, he argues that because of the limitations of the prison library and because he did not have counsel for his first post-conviction relief petition, this court should not apply the rule of res judicata to him in his delayed post-conviction relief petitions.3
{¶ 6} Post-conviction relief is provided by R.C.
{¶ 7} "(A) Whether a hearing is or is not held on a petition filed pursuant to section
{¶ 8} "(1) Either of the following applies:
{¶ 9} "(a) The petitioner shows that the petitioner was unavoidably prevented from discovery of the facts upon which the petitioner must rely to present the claim for relief.
{¶ 10} "(b) Subsequent to the period prescribed in division (A)(2) of section
{¶ 11} "(2) The petitioner shows by clear and convincing evidence that, but for constitutional error at trial, no reasonable factfinder would have found the petitioner guilty of the offense of which the petitioner was convicted * * *."
{¶ 12} The scope of review for a denial of a delayed post-conviction relief petition is very limited.4 It does not permit a challenge to the legality of R.C.
{¶ 13} Because no new evidence was even alleged, the trial court had no authority to entertain the petition. Moreover, even if such evidence were alleged, defendant has raised an issue which the court has no authority to address: whether the post-conviction process violates defendant's due process rights. Not being contingent upon new evidence, this issue is not appropriate for review in a delayed post-conviction relief appeal.
{¶ 14} This assignment of error is therefore, overruled.
{¶ 15} Because the last three assignments of error address the psychiatric evaluation, they will be discussed together:
{¶ 16} "II. The application to confine a mentally ill person after commission of a crime and the psychiatric evaluation finding mental illness only a hour after the commission of the crime is evidence that had the trial counsel sought a second psychiatric evaluation it would have been favorable to the defense of temporary insanity.
{¶ 17} "III. The trial court should have held a [sic] evidentiary hearing so that the petitioner could have established the validity of the psychiatric evaluation submitted as evidence.
{¶ 18} "IV. The failure of trial counsel to investigate the existence of a psychiatric evaluation made one hour after the commission of the crime, a [sic] evaluation which found the defendants [sic] violent acts the result of mental illness, and the failure to bring this evaluation to the attention of the defendant before he changed his plea to guilty constituted gross ineffective assistance of counsel."
{¶ 19} Defendant's remaining three assignments of error address his counsel's failure to introduce an evaluation of him performed one hour after the commission of the crime. This issue has been decided previously in State v. Peeples, Cuyahoga (Dec. 22, 1988) App. No. 61544, affirmed (1994),
Affirmed.
It is ordered that appellee recover of appellant its costs herein taxed.
The court finds there were reasonable grounds for this appeal.
It is ordered that a special mandate issue out of this court directing the Common Pleas Court to carry this judgment into execution.
A certified copy of this entry shall constitute the mandate pursuant to Rule 27 of the Rules of Appellate Procedure.
TIMOTHY E. McMONAGLE, A.J., and JAMES J. SWEENEY, J., CONCUR.
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