Parrish v. Montana
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Defendant William Parrish appealed a district court's decision to deny him postconviction relief. Defendant was convicted in 2008 of criminal endangerment, and the Supreme Court affirmed on direct appeal. In his petition for postconviction relief, Defendant argued that he was sentenced based on erroneous information about his prior criminal record, and that the erroneous information was submitted by the County Attorney because of anger toward him. The district court denied Defendant's petition because Defendant had already raised the issue of the accuracy of his prior criminal history at sentencing. Since that issue was known and could have been raised in the direct appeal, it could not be raised again for postconviction relief. For the first time on appeal, Defendant claimed his appellate attorney rendered ineffective assistance by failing to raise the issue of the erroneous sentencing in the 2010 direct appeal. The Supreme Court declined to consider the issue raised for the first time on appeal; further the Court found that Defendant presented no evidence his sentence was based on the precise number of prior felony convictions he had, and no showing that that fact would have garnered him any material relief had it been raised on appeal. Accordingly, the Court affirmed the district court.
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