Petitioner Not Entitled to Post Conviction Relief Based on Newly Discovered Evidence and Ineffective Assistance of Counsel

Pearson v. State, Minn.S.Ct., 3/22/2017.  In this his second petition for post conviction relief Mr. Pearson said that he had newly discovered evidence that entitled him to a new trial, and that both his trial and appellate counsel had provided ineffective assistance of counsel.  Read about the first, combined direct appeal and post conviction petition here.  The post conviction court summarily denied the petition, and Justice Chutich affirms.

The court made short shrift, applying well recognized law for considering newly considered evidence, in rejecting the new evidence claim.  Mr. Pearson based his trial ineffectiveness claim on the assertion that trial counsel had told him to reject a plea offer for second degree murder - the initial charges were first degree premeditated murder - because the state could not prove premeditation.  Both the trial court and Justice Chutich concluded that this claim was barred under Knaffla because Mr. Pearson knew about it back during the combined direct appeal/post conviction appeal and didn't raise it.  Moreover, he also could not satisfy either of the two Knaffla exceptions.  Once again, the court ducks the question whether these exceptions survive the 2005 amendments to the post conviction statute.