Montanaro v. State
Annotate this CaseFollowing a jury trial, Lawrence Montanaro was convicted of first-degree murder of a police officer. After the statute of limitations for filing a postconviction petition expired, Montanaro filed a petition for postconviction relief. The postconviction court denied the petition without deciding whether Montanaro established an exception to the statute of limitations. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the postconviction court did not abuse its discretion in denying Montanaro's request for a new trial based on the court's conclusion that alleged errors in the jury instructions and the prosecutor's alleged misconduct during his closing argument did not satisfy the third prong of the plain error test because the errors did not affect Montanaro's substantial rights.
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