Zornes v. Minnesota, Minn.S.Ct., 6/15/2016. Mr. Zornes is serving a life sentence without possibility of release for two counts of first degree premeditated murder. The supreme court upheld the convictions and sentences back in 2013, read about it here.
Mr. Zornes then launched a post conviction petition. He alleged seven trial errors denied him a fair trial. Justice Hudson concluded that all of these errors were known or should have been known at the time of direct appeal and so they are Knaffla barred. Mr. Zornes also alleged eight claims of ineffective assistance of trial counsel. Again, however, Justice Hudson points out that all but one of these claims is based on the trial record and thus barred. The court concluded that Mr. Zornes was not entitled to relief on the one issue that perhaps is not barred. Finally, Mr. Zornes argued that his appellate counsel was also ineffective. He based this claim primarily on the assertion that appellate counsel should have raised the prosecutor's use of a Powerpoint presentation during closing argument that either contained information not admitted into evidence and not vetted to both the court and defense counsel prior to its use. See Brabeck v. Chicago & N.W. Ry. Co., 264 Minn. 160, 167-68, 117 N.W.2d 921, 926-27
(1962).
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