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STATE OF MINNESOTA IN SUPREME COURT A07-1754

Hennepin County

Meyer, J.

Jacob Stephen Brown, petitioner, Appellant, vs. State of Minnesota, Respondent. Filed: January 31, 2008 Office of Appellate Courts

SYLLABUS Petitioner's claim for postconviction relief is barred under the rule set forth in State v. Knaffla. Affirmed. Considered and decided by the court en banc without oral argument. OPINION MEYER, Justice. Appellant Jacob Stephen Brown, currently serving a life sentence for first-degree murder, appeals from the summary denial of his petition for postconviction relief. affirm. We

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In 1988, Brown pleaded guilty to the first-degree murder of Carmen Larson and the attempted first-degree murder of Michelle Raisch. Brown v. State (Brown I), 449 N.W.2d 180, 181 (Minn. 1989).1 Following entry and acceptance of his guilty plea, Brown moved to withdraw that plea and proceed to trial. Id. at 182. Analyzing Brown's motion both as a direct appeal and as a petition for postconviction relief, we declined to permit withdrawal of his plea. Id. at 182-83. In doing so, we observed that Brown was represented by counsel, that he had an adequate opportunity to consult with said counsel, that he pleaded voluntarily, that he was aware of the charges against him, that he was aware of the rights he was waiving, and that he understood the consequences of his plea. Id. at 182. Brown subsequently filed a postconviction petition alleging that he lacked the requisite mental capacity to enter a guilty plea; that petition was denied by the district court after an evidentiary hearing. Brown v. State (Brown II), 481 N.W.2d 852, 853 (Minn. 1992). On appeal, we denied relief, again observing that Brown was represented by counsel when he pleaded guilty and that no evidence indicated that he was mentally incompetent at the time of his plea. Id. Brown now brings another postconviction petition to withdraw his 1988 guilty plea, claiming that two recent psychiatric assessments diagnosing him with paranoid schizophrenia indicate his incompetency to enter a plea. The district court summarily denied Brown's petition because (1) Brown's previous argument that his plea was
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The details of these crimes are set forth in this court's opinion on direct appeal.

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involuntary had been rejected by this court; and (2) a 2006 psychiatric evaluation tells little of Brown's mental state twenty years prior. This appeal followed. Under Minn. Stat.

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