Peo v. Kuntz, 23CA0097

Michael Allen Kuntz was convicted in Colorado of multiple counts of sexual assault on a child and was given an indeterminate sentence of twenty-four years to life after an initial appeal resulted in partially vacated and resentenced convictions.
Kuntz filed a Crim. P. 35(c) motion arguing ineffective assistance of counsel, asserting that his attorney failed to introduce evidence that could have undermined the victim's credibility by challenging the timeline and location of the alleged assaults.
Specifically, Kuntz argued evidence of his incarceration in Wyoming and evidence regarding when he moved into a particular house would have shown he could not have committed the acts when and where the victim claimed.
An evidentiary hearing was held, after which the postconviction court denied the motion, finding no prejudice to Kuntz even if counsel's performance was deficient.
The postconviction court noted the testimony at trial already revealed significant inconsistencies in the victim's timeline and that additional inconsistencies would not likely have changed the verdict.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Ineffective assistance: Evidence not presented	Trial counsel highlighted inconsistencies	Counsel failed to introduce critical exculpatory evidence	No prejudice established; verdict stands
Prejudice from trial counsel's alleged failures	Jury saw all key inconsistencies already	New evidence would have changed outcome by impeaching victim	Additional evidence would not affect outcome
Ability to amend charges to match the evidence	Complaint could be amended to fit the timeline	Amendment would prejudice defense's only strategy	Court does not rely on possible amendment
Weight of victim's testimony	Victim’s account corroborated by other evidence	Victim’s timeline and credibility were central and undermined	Inconsistencies already before jury; conviction upheld

Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984) (setting the standard for ineffective assistance of counsel)
Ardolino v. People, 69 P.3d 73 (Colo. 2003) (defining standards for reviewing counsel’s performance in Colorado)
Dunlap v. People, 173 P.3d 1054 (Colo. 2007) (explaining mixed questions of law and fact in postconviction review)
Carmichael v. People, 206 P.3d 800 (Colo. 2009) (requiring objective, corroborating evidence for postconviction claims)
People v. Brooks, 250 P.3d 771 (Colo. App. 2010) (regarding abandoned claims on appeal)