State v. Phelps
Annotate this CaseDefendant was convicted of kidnapping in the disappearance of nine-year-old Jill Cutshall. The trial court sentenced Defendant to life imprisonment. In 1992, The Supreme Court affirmed Defendant's conviction and sentence. In 2012, Defendant filed a motion for postconviction relief, alleging that he had recently learned of the existence of newly discovered evidence - a diary in which was detailed the abduction, rape and murder of Cutshall. The district court denied the motion without an evidentiary hearing. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) the district court erred in finding that Defendant's motion was procedurally barred because his motion affirmatively showed on its face that the ground for relief could not have been asserted at the time of the prior postconviction proceedings; (2) the district court did not err in concluding that Defendant did not allege facts sufficient to necessitate an evidentiary hearing; and (3) because Defendant raised no justiciable issue of law or fact, the district court did not err in declining to appoint counsel.
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