2008-M-090             Leon M. Perry, petitioner, Appellant, vs. State of Minnesota, Respondent.

Following a jury trial in Hennepin County, Perry was found guilty of first-degree murder in 1997  for the shooting death of Brian Thomas outside the Riverview Supper Club in Minneapolis on July 8, 1995.   Perry was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. 

On direct appeal, he argued that the district court committed reversible error by admitting inadmissible hearsay and that his Sixth Amendment rights were violated because no persons of color were on the grand jury that indicted him.   We affirmed.  

 Seven years later, Perry filed his first petition for post-conviction relief, claiming a violation of his Fourteenth Amendment right to equal protection based on the racial composition of the grand jury and ineffective assistance of counsel for failing to raise this equal protection claim.  We affirmed the post-conviction court’s summary denial of relief on the ground that Perry’s claims were barred by the rule announced in State v. Knaffla, and we concluded that a new claim of ineffective assistance of counsel,

raised by Perry for the first time on appeal, was also barred by the rule of Knaffla.

 Perry filed his second petition for post-conviction relief in April 2006 arguing that his Sixth Amendment right to a jury trial was violated because the State did not submit and prove beyond a reasonable doubt a violation in accordance with Blakely .  The post-conviction court summarily denied relief, concluding that Perry’s claim was meritless because Blakely did not apply retroactively to his claim and because Perry was sentenced to a mandatory term of life imprisonment.  We affirmed.

 On July 25, 2007, Perry filed his third petition for post-conviction relief.  He subsequently amended his petition, filed a separate (fourth) petition,2 filed responsive memoranda, and made a number  f motions in regard to his post-conviction petitions.   The post-conviction court denied all his claims without a hearing.  Perry appeals, arguing: (1) his right to a jury trial was violated because the jury did not make any findings regarding Minn. Stat. § 609.11; (2) his right to a fair trial was violated by prosecutorial misconduct; and (3) the post-conviction court erred by not ruling on Perry’s various post-conviction motions.  

               Gildea (Magnuson, Page, Paul Anderson, Meyer, Barry Anderson, and Dietzen)

[MURDER}