Nestell v. State

This appeal requires us to decide whether pleading requirements must be met to trigger the exceptions to the primary statute-of-limitations deadline for post-conviction petitions for relief. Chawtell Nestell seeks post-conviction relief from a sentence of 360 months imprisonment for unintentional second-degree murder, a conviction he did not directly appeal. His attorney mailed his post-conviction petition to the district court the day after the deadline established by the two-year statute of limitations of section 590.01, subdivision 4. The district court dismissed the petition, concluding that the untimely filing deprived it of jurisdiction to consider any possible exceptions. Nestell appeals the dismissal, arguing that the statute of limitations did not deprive the court of jurisdiction to consider the petition. We conclude that because Nestell failed to satisfy the statutory pleading requirements necessary to trigger the exceptions, the district court did not abuse its discretion when it summarily dismissed his petition. We therefore affirm without reaching the question of jurisdiction.