Eugene Erick Fort v. State of Minnesota, 861 N.W.2d 674

In 1990, 11-year-old Marcus Potts was stabbed to death; footprints and a scent trail led police to Eugene Fort’s home, and small blood samples were recovered from Fort’s house and from a smear at the Potts home.
Early DNA testing was not possible for the small samples; in 2001 BCA testing matched drops of blood in Fort’s house to Potts, but the 12-inch smear from the Potts house was too small to test or later unavailable.
Fort was tried, convicted of two counts of first-degree murder, and sentenced to life without release; this court later affirmed the premeditated-murder conviction and vacated the burglary-based murder conviction (Fort I).
Fort filed a pro se postconviction petition (2009) and a counseled petition (2011) seeking DNA testing and relief based on alleged newly discovered evidence; both petitions were denied and this court affirmed (Fort II).
In April 2014 Fort filed a second pro se postconviction petition alleging ineffective assistance of appellate and trial counsel and mishandling of the blood-smear evidence; the postconviction court summarily denied it as procedurally/time barred and as meritless.
The Minnesota Supreme Court affirmed, holding appellate-ineffective-assistance claims fail as a matter of law and the remaining claims are time barred under Minn. Stat. § 590.01.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether appellate counsel was ineffective for withdrawing Fort’s pro se petition and insufficient research	Fort: appellate counsel’s conduct denied effective assistance	State: no constitutional right to counsel for successive postconviction proceedings after direct appeal; claim fails as matter of law	Held: Claim fails as matter of law (no right to counsel for subsequent postconviction petitions after direct appeal)
Whether trial counsel was ineffective	Fort: trial counsel failed to test smear, present alibi witnesses, interview witnesses	State: claims are time barred and procedurally barred by prior proceedings	Held: Time barred under Minn. Stat. § 590.01; no relief
Whether the State mishandled/failed to preserve evidentiary sample (blood smear)	Fort: loss/mishandling of smear deprived him of exculpatory testing	State: smear was either too small or nonexistent; claims previously raised/known	Held: Time barred and Knaffla-bar applies; no entitlement to relief
Whether an evidentiary hearing was required on these claims	Fort: factual development needed to show prejudice and exceptions to time bar	State: record conclusively shows claims fail or are untimely; no hearing required	Held: No hearing required; summary denial appropriate

Fort v. State, 768 N.W.2d 335 (Minn. 2009) (affirmed premeditated-murder conviction; vacated burglary-based murder conviction)
Fort v. State, 829 N.W.2d 78 (Minn. 2013) (affirmed denial of first postconviction petition; addressed newly discovered evidence and DNA testing threshold)
Pennsylvania v. Finley, 481 U.S. 551 (1987) (Sixth Amendment right to counsel does not extend to state postconviction proceedings)
Coleman v. Thompson, 501 U.S. 722 (1991) (no constitutional claim for ineffective assistance of counsel in state postconviction proceedings)
Ferguson v. State, 826 N.W.2d 808 (Minn. 2013) (no right under Minnesota Constitution to counsel for subsequent postconviction petitions after direct appeal)
State v. Knaffla, 243 N.W.2d 737 (Minn. 1976) (claims raised or known at direct appeal are barred on subsequent postconviction)