Attorneys Cannot Appeal Post Conviction Claims For Deceased Client

The Minnesota Supreme Court dismissed an appeal filed by attorneys for a deceased client

This case arises out of a district court order dismissing a post conviction petition as moot following the death of the petitioner. The petitioner’s former attorneys appealed the district court’s order even though their client had died. Because the attorneys, who are not themselves aggrieved parties, do not have standing to seek review of the district court’s order, we lack appellate jurisdiction and must dismiss the appeal.

The case

In 1989, following a jury trial, Billy Richard Glaze was convicted of multiple counts of first degree-murder during a sexual assault and second-degree intentional murder for the deaths of three Native American women. The three women had each been beaten to death and were left naked and posed with large sticks protruding from their vaginas. The bodies were discovered at different locations around Minneapolis in areas frequented by transients. Due to the amount of debris in each location, investigators collected and tested hundreds of items of potential evidence. DNA testing did not reveal a direct link between Glaze and the crime scenes. At trial, the State introduced evidence that suggested that Glaze had animus towards Native American women and that he fantasized about sexually mutilating them. The State also introduced evidence that Glaze had given his girlfriend a ring belonging to one of the victims and evidence of shoe prints found at that victim’s murder scene that were consistent with shoes belonging to Glaze. We affirmed Glaze’s convictions on appeal, relying on the “overwhelming evidence of [his] guilt.” State v. Glaze, 452 N.W.2d 655, 661 (Minn. 1990).

He sought and was granted DNA testing but

On December 22, 2015, Billy Glaze died. Less than 2 weeks later, the State moved to dismiss Glaze’s post conviction petition as moot given Glaze’s death. The attorneys who had been representing Glaze in the post conviction proceedings argued that Glaze’s petition was not moot because the district court could grant “effectual relief” by “clearing [Glaze’s] name—his dying wish.” In the alternative, they argued that, even if the petition was technically moot, the “significant public interest exception” to the mootness doctrine applied because the petition was “functionally justiciable” and presented “important public issues of statewide significance.”

The court

Although this case is captioned “Billy Richard Glaze, Appellant, vs. State of Minnesota, Respondent,” Billy Glaze did not file this appeal. Indeed, Mr. Glaze died well before the district court dismissed his post conviction petition. It is equally clear that the personal representative of the Estate of Billy Glaze did not file this appeal because she is neither listed in the caption nor mentioned in the body of the notice of appeal. Instead, this appeal was filed by the attorneys who had been representing Glaze before his death. We conclude that these attorneys, whose attorney-client relationship with Glaze terminated on his death and who are not aggrieved parties themselves, do not have standing to pursue Glaze’s postconviction claims on appeal. Thus, we lack appellate jurisdiction and must dismiss the appeal.

The Star Tribune reported on the efforts of the attorneys. (Mike Frisch)