Larry Dean Boring v. State of Iowa ( 2021 )


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  •                    IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF IOWA
    No. 20-0129
    Filed June 16, 2021
    LARRY DEAN BORING,
    Applicant-Appellant,
    vs.
    STATE OF IOWA,
    Respondent-Appellee.
    ________________________________________________________________
    Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Jones County, Lars Anderson,
    Judge.
    Larry Boring appeals the denial of his application for postconviction relief.
    APPEAL DISMISSED.
    Anne K. Wilson of Viner Law Firm, Cedar Rapids, for appellant.
    Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, and Thomas J. Ogden, Assistant
    Attorney General, for appellee.
    Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., and Greer and Schumacher, JJ.
    2
    VAITHESWARAN, Presiding Judge.
    In this appeal from the denial of a postconviction-relief application, we must
    consider the effect of certain pro se filings.
    Larry Dean Boring was convicted of second-degree sexual abuse and
    lascivious acts with a child in 2005. Boring appealed his conviction, raising several
    ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claims.        The court of appeals affirmed the
    convictions and preserved the claims for postconviction relief. See State v. Boring,
    No. 05-2054, 
    2007 WL 1063037
    , at *1 (Iowa Ct. App. Apr. 11, 2007).
    Boring filed a postconviction-relief application. The district court denied the
    application, and the court of appeals affirmed the denial. See Boring v. State,
    No. 12-2000, 
    2014 WL 955385
    , at *1 (Iowa Ct. App. Mar. 12, 2014).
    Boring filed a second postconviction-relief application on July 3, 2019. The
    State moved to dismiss the application on the ground that “[m]ore than three years
    has passed since both the entry of final judgment in the underlying felony, and the
    initial claim of post-conviction relief,” and the claims were “time-barred.” The
    district court granted Boring’s application for court-appointed counsel.
    Counsel filed a resistance to the State’s motion to dismiss the application.
    Three days later, Boring filed a “Motion for Extension Time to File Resistance (Pro
    Se).” The district court ruled that a recently enacted statute prohibited the filing of
    any pro se document except “a pro se motion seeking disqualification of counsel.”
    See 
    Iowa Code § 822
    .3A (2019). The court determined Boring’s pro se filing did
    “not seek the disqualification of counsel,” and accordingly, the court could not
    consider it.
    3
    Boring’s attorney followed up with a motion to extend the time to supplement
    her initial resistance to the State’s dismissal motion. The district court granted the
    extension motion. Counsel ultimately did not supplement her resistance. The
    district court granted the State’s dismissal motion “[f]or the reasons stated and
    authority provided in the Motion to Dismiss filed by the State.”
    Boring filed a pro se “motion for expanded findings of fact and conclusions
    of law pursuant to Iowa R. Civ. P. 1.904.” The district court denied the motion “for
    the reasons stated in its initial order.” Boring filed a pro se notice of appeal from
    the initial order.
    The State has moved to dismiss the appeal on the ground that the notice
    was not filed within thirty days of the district court’s initial dismissal order.1 See
    Iowa R. App. P. 6.101(1)(b) (“A notice of appeal must be filed within 30 days after
    the filing of the final order or judgment.”). The State acknowledges that the Iowa
    Rules of Appellate Procedure contain an exception to the thirty-day deadline where
    “a motion is timely filed under Iowa R. Civ. P. 1.904(2) or Iowa R. Civ. P. 1.1007.”
    Iowa R. App. P. 6.101 (1)(c). The exception allows a notice of appeal to be filed
    “within 30 days after the filing of the ruling on such motion.” 
    Id.
     The State asserts
    Boring may not avail himself of the exception because section 822.3A prohibits pro
    se filings such as his rule 1.904(2) motion “while he was still represented by
    counsel.” In the State’s view, “Boring’s prohibited pro se motion is essentially a
    nullity and did not revive his appeal deadline notwithstanding rule 6.101(1)(c).”
    1   The supreme court ordered the motion considered with the appeal.
    4
    Iowa Code section 822.3A, enacted on July 1, 2019—two days before
    Boring filed his second postconviction-relief application2—states:
    1. An applicant seeking relief under section 822.2 who is
    currently represented by counsel shall not file any pro se document,
    including an application, brief, reply brief, or motion, in any Iowa
    court. The court shall not consider, and opposing counsel shall not
    respond to, such pro se filings.
    2. This section does not prohibit an applicant for
    postconviction relief from proceeding without the assistance of
    counsel.
    3. A represented applicant for postconviction relief may file a
    pro se motion seeking disqualification of counsel, which a court may
    grant upon a showing of good cause.
    The supreme court recently considered a constitutional challenge to the
    provision. See Hrbek, 779 N.W.2d at 784–88. The court concluded “there is no
    constitutional right of any sort to file pro se supplemental documents in
    postconviction-relief proceedings and postconviction appeals.” Id. at 785. The
    court reasoned:
    In enacting section 822.3A, the legislative department determined
    that postconviction relief applicants represented by counsel shall no
    longer be allowed to file pro se supplemental documents and instead
    must speak through their counsel. This amendment to the
    postconviction statute was within the legislative department’s
    constitutional authority “to provide for a general system of practice in
    all the courts of this state.”
    2 Because the postconviction-relief application was filed after the effective date of
    the statute, retroactive application is not an issue. In any event, the supreme court
    recently stated, “The event of legal consequence is the filing of pro se
    supplemental documents. The new law went into effect on July 1, 2019, but all of
    the events of legal consequence occur after that date.” Hrbek v. State, 
    958 N.W.2d 779
    , 783 (Iowa 2021).
    5
    Id. at 789 (citation omitted). Hrbek resolves the constitutionality of the provision.3
    We turn to the language of the statute.
    Section 822.3A(1) prohibited Boring from filing “any pro se document,”
    including a “motion,” and prohibited the district court from “consider[ing]” the filing.
    By its terms, Boring’s post-dismissal filing was a “motion” and it was filed pro se
    while Boring was represented by counsel.
    Boring responds by citing section 822.3A(3).         He contends his motion
    should have been treated as a request for disqualification of counsel under that
    provision.
    Boring’s prayer for relief sought “an ORDER acknowledging the
    abandonment of counsel” and an order “reopening this action with appointment of
    new counsel” or “[i]n the alternative,” an “ORDER acknowledging the
    abandonment of counsel” and an “ORDER mandating [his current trial attorney]
    file the Notice of Appeal.” Because Boring’s rule 1.904(2) motion essentially asked
    to disqualify counsel, we conclude it was an authorized filing under Iowa Code
    section 822.3A(3) rather than a “nullity” under section 822.3A(1). See Peoples Tr.
    & Sav. Bank v. Baird, 
    346 N.W.2d 1
    , 2 (Iowa 1984) (“Although our rules do not
    expressly authorize a motion for rehearing, we look to the substance of the motion
    and not its title. We conclude the motion for rehearing was in essence a motion
    for enlarged and amended findings under Iowa Rule of Civil Procedure [1.904(2)].”
    (citations omitted)).
    3 Boring challenges the statute under the First Amendment to the United States
    Constitution. Assuming the issue was preserved and not waived, the broad
    language of Hrbek precludes the challenge.
    6
    That said, the district court did not treat the motion as a motion to disqualify
    counsel under section 822.3A(3), a provision it was clearly cognizant of, having
    cited it in a previous order. Instead, the court treated it as it was styled—a motion
    for enlarged findings and conclusions—and denied it for the reasons stated in the
    original order. Implicit in the court’s ruling was a rejection of Boring’s assertion
    that his attorney “abandon[ed]” him. See Hubby v. State, 
    331 N.W.2d 690
    , 695
    (Iowa 1983) (“[W]e assume as fact an unstated finding that is necessary to support
    the judgment against plaintiff.”).
    Because the court “considered” and denied the motion for enlarged findings
    and conclusions notwithstanding its pro se nature, we will assume without deciding
    that the ruling extended the time for filing a notice of appeal. Boring’s notice was
    filed within thirty days of the denial of that motion. However, the notice of appeal
    was again filed pro se while Boring was still represented by counsel. Accordingly,
    it was a document that could not be considered. It was a nullity, as the State
    claims. For that reason, the appeal is dismissed.4
    APPEAL DISMISSED.
    Greer, J., concurs; Schumacher, J., concurs specially.
    4The pro se notice of appeal references Boring’s “abandon[ment] by counsel.”
    Assuming without deciding the notice should be treated as a motion to disqualify
    counsel, we discern no good cause for doing so.
    7
    SCHUMACHER, Judge (concurring specially)
    Although the end result provides no alternative relief for Boring, I write
    separately from the majority opinion to address a different path to reach such end
    result. The majority concludes that Boring’s appeal should be dismissed, as his
    pro se notice of appeal could not be considered as Boring was represented by
    counsel, citing Iowa Code section 822.3A, enacted on July 1, 2019. As set forth
    by the majority, the new code section controls pro se filings when the applicant for
    postconviction relief is represented by counsel as follows:
    1. An applicant seeking relief under section 822.2 who is
    currently represented by counsel shall not file any pro se document,
    including an application, brief, reply brief, or motion, in any Iowa
    court. The court shall not consider, and opposing counsel shall not
    respond to, such pro se filings.
    2. This section does not prohibit an applicant for
    postconviction relief from proceeding without the assistance of
    counsel.
    3. A represented applicant for postconviction relief may file
    a pro se motion seeking disqualification of counsel, which a court
    may grant upon a showing of good cause.
    
    Iowa Code § 822
    .3A.
    Our supreme court recently considered a constitutional challenge to the
    provision. See Hrbek v. State, 
    958 N.W.2d 779
    ,784–88 (Iowa 2021). The court
    concluded, “there is no constitutional right of any sort to file pro se supplemental
    documents in postconviction-relief proceedings and postconviction appeals.” Id.
    at 785. The court reasoned:
    In enacting section 822.3A, the legislative department determined
    that postconviction relief applicants represented by counsel shall no
    longer be allowed to file pro se supplemental documents and instead
    must speak through their counsel. This amendment to the
    postconviction statute was within the legislative department’s
    constitutional authority “to provide for a general system of practice in
    all the courts of this state.”
    8
    Id. at 789 (citation omitted).
    In the instant postconviction-relief proceeding, the district court dismissed
    Boring’s pro se motion to reconsider, following dismissal of the postconviction
    application. In the motion to reconsider, Boring expressed displeasure with the
    performance of his trial counsel and asked for appointment of new counsel. Like
    the majority, I agree this motion should have been considered by the district court
    and tolled the appeal deadline. The district court did not rule on Boring’s request
    for new counsel.
    Boring filed a pro se notice of appeal on January 23, 2019, apparently
    believing he was without counsel after the conclusion of his district court action, as
    on the same date, he filed a motion for appointment of appellate counsel. An order
    was entered on January 30, appointing appellate counsel for Boring. As part of
    that order, the district court stated, “It shall be the responsibility of the State
    Appellate Defender’s Office to file the notice of appeal with the Clerk of Court and
    serve the copy on the Attorney General.” This does not appear to have been
    completed, leaving the only notice of appeal filed of record being the pro se notice
    filed by Boring on January 23, 2019. Accordingly, the notice of appeal, as asserted
    by the State, should not be considered a nullity.
    However, the district court’s dismissal of the postconviction application on
    statute of limitation grounds should be affirmed.5 Boring was convicted of sexual
    5 The district court order dismissed the application “for the reasons stated and
    authority provided in the Motion to Dismiss filed by the State on July 26, 2019 . . .
    .” The State’s resistance contained a recitation of the dates of the original
    judgment, Boring’s first postconviction-relief application, and the procedendo dates
    relating to each filing.
    9
    abuse and lascivious acts in 2005. He appealed, and procedendo issued on the
    direct appeal in May 2007. Boring filed his first application for postconviction relief
    in 2007 and amended the same in June 2008. The district court denied the
    application and the denial was affirmed on appeal, with procedendo issuing in
    August 2014. The instant appeal was filed approximately five years after the
    issuance of procedendo on his first application for postconviction relief—more than
    twelve years after the procedendo issued on his direct appeal. Further, on the face
    of the current application for postconviction relief, Boring fails to state any ground
    that could not have been raised within the applicable time standard. As to his
    generic assertions on an actual innocence claim, Boring failed to provide reliable
    evidence by way of an affidavit or otherwise in resistance to the State’s motion to
    dismiss. Accordingly, I would affirm the district court’s denial of Boring’s second
    application for postconviction relief.
    

Document Info

Docket Number: 20-0129

Filed Date: 6/16/2021

Precedential Status: Precedential

Modified Date: 6/16/2021