Ronald Eugene Holdsworth, Applicant-Appellant v. State of Iowa

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF IOWA
No. 13-1629
Filed January 28, 2015
RONALD EUGENE HOLDSWORTH,
Applicant-Appellant,
vs.
STATE OF IOWA,
Respondent-Appellee.
________________________________________________________________
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Boone County, Steven J. Oeth,
Judge.
Ronald Holdsworth appeals from the summary dismissal of his application
for postconvicton relief. AFFIRMED.
Douglas Cook, of Cook Law Office, Jewell, for appellant.
Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, Sharon K. Hall, Assistant Attorney
General, and Daniel J. Kolacia, County Attorney, for appellee State.
Considered by Vogel, P.J., Vaitheswaran, J., and Mahan, S.J.*
*Senior judge assigned by order pursuant to Iowa Code section 602.9206 (2015).
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MAHAN, S.J.
Ronald Holdsworth filed an application for postconvicton relief (PCR) more
than three years after he was convicted of second-degree sexual abuse. The
district court granted summary dismissal in favor of the State, finding the action
was barred by Iowa Code section 822.3 (2013). On appeal, Holdsworth alleges
the court erred in dismissing his application because trial counsel’s
ineffectiveness prevented him from discovering the alleged error within three
years of his conviction.
The crux of Holdsworth’s PCR claim is that he pled guilty with the belief he
would be eligible for parole after serving seventy percent of his sentence and
later discovered that Iowa Department of Correction’s (DOC) policies would
prevent him from being paroled until his sentence is close to discharge. On this
basis, he argues trial counsel was ineffective in failing to advise him of the
consequences of pleading guilty—i.e., that by operation of the DOC’s policies, he
will serve more than seventy percent of his sentence before being eligible for
parole. Holdsworth claims the district court erred in dismissing his application
under section 822.3 because he did not learn of the DOC’s policies and their
effect on his sentence until after the limitation period for bringing a PCR action
expired.
Iowa Code section 822.3 provides a PCR application must be filed within
three years of the date of conviction. An exception exists if a ground of fact or
law could not have been raised within the applicable time period. Iowa Code
§ 822.3. However, the grounds for Holdsworth’s PCR action existed within the
limitation period, and therefore, the exception provided in section 822.3 is
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inapplicable. See Wilkins v. Wilkins, 522 N.W.2d 822, 824 (Iowa 1994) (stating
the exception provided in section 822.3 is based on claims that “could not” be
raised because they were unavailable); State v. Edman, 444 N.W.2d 103, 106
(Iowa Ct. App. 1989) (rejecting a PCR applicant’s claim “he was unable to bring
the claim until he did because he did not know about the statute until then, and
that such lack of knowledge was because of ineffective assistance of [trial]
counsel” and noting “lack of knowledge is not provided as a ground for exception
from the effects of the statute of limitations”). Because Holdsworth’s PCR
application was not timely, the district court properly granted summary dismissal.
Accordingly, we affirm.
AFFIRMED.