Right to Counsel – Appellate Counsel

Appellant slammed the head of his 15-week-old son against a wall, killing him, and he was charged with first-degree murder. Appellant entered an Alford guilty plea to second-degree murder, waived his right to a sentencing jury, and was sentenced based on an upward durational departure to 390 months’ imprisonment. He voluntarily dismissed his direct appeal in 2005. In October 2012, appellant filed a motion for a corrected sentence, arguing that his plea agreement did not justify an upward durational departure and that the sentencing process deprived him of his right to trial by jury. The District Court treated his motion as a petition for postconviction relief and denied it. Appellant appealed, arguing that his plea was not knowing and voluntary, contending that it did not support the upward durational sentencing departure, and adding that the District Court erred by denying his request for new appointed counsel after he fired his appellate public defender. The Court of Appeals held that appellant waived his right to appellate counsel and his sentencing challenge had no merit. Affirmed.

A13-0273 Munoz v. State (Anoka County)

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