Griffin v. State , 2006 MT 52N ( 2006 )

No. 05-418
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF MONTANA
2006 MT 52N_______________________________________
CALVIN Z. GRIFFIN,
Petitioner and Appellant,
v.
STATE OF MONTANA,
Respondent and Respondent.
______________________________________
APPEAL FROM: District Court of the Fourth Judicial District,
In and for the County of Missoula, Cause No. DC 99-13802
The Honorable Ed McLean, Judge presiding.
COUNSEL OF RECORD:
For Appellant:
Calvin Z. Griffin (pro se), Deer Lodge, Montana
For Respondent:
Hon. Mike McGrath, Attorney General; Jennifer Anders, Assistant
Attorney General, Helena, Montana
Fred Van Valkenburg, County Attorney; Kristen Lacroix, Deputy County
Attorney, Missoula, Montana
____________________________________
Submitted on Briefs: February 23, 2006
Decided: March 14, 2006
Filed:
______________________________________
Clerk
Justice Brian Morris delivered the Opinion of the Court.
¶1 Pursuant to Section I, Paragraph 3(d)(v), Montana Supreme Court 1996 Internal
Operating Rules, as amended in 2003, the following memorandum decision shall not be
cited as precedent. It shall be filed as a public document with the Clerk of the Supreme
Court and its case title, Supreme Court cause number and disposition shall be included in
this Court's quarterly list of noncitable cases published in the Pacific Reporter and
Montana Reports.
¶2 Calvin Z. Griffin (Griffin) appeals from the order issued by the Fourth Judicial
District Court, Missoula County, denying his Petition for Postconviction Relief. Griffin
had filed a Motion to Waive Fines, Fees and Costs and Motion for Nunc Pro Tunc. We
affirm.
¶3 The State charged Griffin with one hundred seventy-four counts of sexual abuse of
children on July 21, 1999. Griffin entered into a plea agreement with the State pursuant
to which the District Court sentenced him to forty years at Montana State Prison with
thirty years suspended. The Sentence Review Division affirmed Griffin’s sentence and
he did not appeal.
¶4 Griffin filed numerous pro se motions in the District Court over the next four
years, including a petition for postconviction relief, attempting to have his sentence
amended. The District Court denied all of Griffin’s motions. We affirmed the District
Court’s order denying Griffin’s postconviction relief petition in Griffin v. State, 2003 MT
267, 317 Mont. 457, 77 P.3d 545. Griffin filed his most recent motion to waive the fines
and costs associated with his sentence in March 2005, based upon this Court’s decision in
State v. Fisher, 2003 MT 33, 314 Mont. 222, 65 P.3d 223. The District Court denied
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Griffin’s motion on the grounds that he previously had filed a petition for postconviction
relief that the District Court had denied and this Court had affirmed. The District Court
further noted that not only had the time for bringing such post-judgment remedies expired
long ago, but Griffin “has repeatedly bombarded this Court and the Montana Supreme
Court in the ensuing years with a multitude of petitions which are, like this one, time
barred.”
¶5 We have determined to decide this case pursuant to Section 1, Paragraph 3(d) of
our 1996 Internal Operating Rules, as amended in 2003, that provides for memorandum
opinions. It is manifest on the face of the briefs and the record before us that Griffin’s
appeal lacks merit. The District Court correctly applied settled Montana law to the legal
issues raised by Griffin.
¶6 The postconviction statutes require that a petitioner raise all grounds for relief in
the original or amended original petition. Section 46-21-105(1)(a), MCA. The District
Court must dismiss a second or subsequent petition unless it raises grounds for relief that
could not reasonably have been raised in the original or amended original petition.
Section 46-21-105(1)(b), MCA. Griffin cannot avoid this procedural bar simply by
renaming his petition a “Motion to Waive Fines and Costs” or a “Motion for Nunc Pro
Tunc.” We affirm the District Court.
/S/ BRIAN MORRIS
We Concur:
/S/ KARLA M. GRAY
/S/ PATRICIA COTTER
/S/ W. WILLIAM LEAPHART
/S/ JIM RICE
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