Greer v. State, 836 N.W.2d 520

Background

KB was shot and killed on July 26, 1998; Greer was later arrested, tried, and convicted of first- and second-degree murder.
Greer testified at trial; multiple witnesses implicated him. He was convicted and pursued direct appeal and multiple postconviction proceedings.
Earlier appeals and remands: State v. Greer (Greer I) (remand over juror ex parte contacts), State v. Greer (Greer II) (challenge to juror questioning rejected), and Greer III (judicial-bias postconviction claim denied as Knaffla-barred).
Greer filed two later postconviction petitions (May 4, 2012 and Aug 13, 2012): one claiming ineffective assistance of appellate counsel, the other alleging newly discovered evidence that his trial testimony was false.
The postconviction court summarily denied both petitions as time-barred; alternatively it rejected the ineffective-assistance claims on the merits.
Greer appealed; the Minnesota Supreme Court affirmed, holding the petitions untimely under the objective two-year rule for the interests-of-justice exception and declining to revisit Sanchez.

Issues

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Timeliness under §590.01 — whether petitions fall within the interests-of-justice exception	Greer argued his claims fit the interests-of-justice exception and should not be time-barred; urged a subjective start date for the two-year clock	State argued petitions were filed well after the July 31, 2007 deadline and the two-year clock began earlier under an objective standard	Held: Petitions untimely; two-year objective standard (Sanchez) applies and Greer did not meet it
Standard for when the two-year period begins (objective v. subjective)	Greer asked Court to overrule Sanchez and adopt a subjective standard as unduly harsh	State urged retention of Sanchez’s objective standard	Held: Court declined to overrule Sanchez; applied objective standard
Merits of ineffective-assistance-of-appellate-counsel claim	Greer alleged appellate counsel omitted many issues, failed to consult, and failed to timely advise re: pro se supplemental brief	State argued claim was time-barred and without merit	Held: Court affirmed postconviction court’s alternative ruling that claims failed on the merits (and primarily that they were time-barred)
Newly discovered evidence exception / Knaffla and waiver issues	Greer invoked newly-discovered-evidence exception for his Aug 13 petition	State argued petition was untimely, Knaffla-barred, and that Greer waived some arguments on appeal	Held: Court treated the August petition as untimely; Greer waived reliance on the newly-discovered-evidence exception by not arguing it on appeal

Key Cases Cited

State v. Greer, 635 N.W.2d 82 (Minn. 2001) (remand over juror ex parte contacts)
State v. Greer, 662 N.W.2d 121 (Minn. 2003) (rejection of claim about questioning only some jurors)
Greer v. State, 673 N.W.2d 151 (Minn. 2004) (judicial-bias postconviction claim barred by Knaffla)
State v. Knaffla, 243 N.W.2d 737 (Minn. 1976) (preclusion rule for issues that could have been raised on direct appeal)
Sanchez v. State, 816 N.W.2d 550 (Minn. 2012) (two-year limitations period in §590.01 starts to run under an objective standard)
Reed v. State, 793 N.W.2d 725 (Minn. 2010) (standard of review for denial of postconviction relief)
Bobo v. State, 820 N.W.2d 511 (Minn. 2012) (when allegations are legally insufficient, no evidentiary hearing required)
Doppler v. State, 771 N.W.2d 867 (Minn. 2009) (postconviction factual sufficiency and hearing standards)