Sees the Ground v. Montana

Gordon Sees The Ground, Jr. appealed a district court's order that denied his petition for postconviction relief. In 2008, Sees The Ground was convicted of felony DUI after Billings police officers found him slumped over the steering wheel of a car with the ignition key in the on position, the headlights on, and parked partially in the traffic lane. Sees The Ground appealed the conviction and the Supreme Court affirmed. Sees The Ground was subsequently charged with and convicted of perjury based upon the testimony he gave at his DUI trial. Sees The Ground testified at the DUI trial that Orrie Plainbull had driven the car to the location where Sees The Ground was later found behind the wheel. Sees The Ground appealed the perjury conviction but the appeal was withdrawn. Sees The Ground claimed in his postconviction relief petition that the prosecution in his DUI trial withheld material information about a witness who called 911 to report Sees The Ground slumped over in the vehicle. Sees The Ground claims that the prosecution withheld information that Wood also witnessed two men in a car and saw the passenger get out, fall on the sidewalk, and injure himself while the vehicle drove away. The injured man proved to be Orrie Plainbull (the person Sees the Ground claimed was driving which was the basis of his perjured testimony) and the vehicle that drove away was the one in which police later found Sees The Ground slumped over the steering wheel. Having reviewed the briefs and the record on appeal the Court concluded that Sees The Ground did not meet his burden of persuasion and that the District Court properly denied relief.