Opinion
DA 21-0425
11-02-2021
JAY DONALD WITKOWSKI, Petitioner and Appellant, v. STATE OF MONTANA, Respondent and Appellee.
ORDER
Self-represented Appellant Jay Donald Witkowski has tiled a Motion for Reconsideration of Appointment of Counsel. In a September 2, 2021 Order, this Court denied his motion for appointment of counsel because he represented himself in the Valley County District Court when he filed his petition for postconviction relief and because he is not due representation of counsel, pursuant to Montana statutes. See § 46-8-104(1), MCA (there is no right to representation of counsel in a postconviction proceeding.). We deem his instant motion a petition for rehearing under M. R. App. P. 20(1).
Witkowski states that he is incarcerated and is without access to a law library. He further states that he has learning disabilities. Witkowski concludes that this Court is setting him up for failure.
This Court adheres to Montana statutes. As stated before, there is no right to representation of counsel after an offender has been convicted and sentenced and he or she seeks postconviction relief on their own behalf in the District Court. Here, in 2018, Witkowksi pleaded guilty to aggravated kidnapping, and in February 2018, the District Court sentenced him to a forty-year prison term to run consecutively to his other sentence.Witkowksi did not file a timely appeal. When he petitioned this Court for an out-of-time appeal in late 2020, we denied it, and Witkowski filed a petition for postconviction relief in the District Court in February 2021. 1
Witkowksi appeals his other conviction and sentence after we granted his out-of-time appeal and motion for appointment of counsel. Slate v. Witkowski, No. DA 18-0621.
M. R. App. P. 20(1)(d) states that this Court will grant petitions for rehearing concerning a motion for relief when the petitioner demonstrates extraordinary circumstances. Witkowski has not shown extraordinary circumstances. While he may think he has a right to counsel, there is no such right for his postconviction matter on appeal. Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED that Witkowski's Motion for Reconsideration of Appointment of Counsel, deemed a Petition for Rehearing, is DENIED.
The Clerk shall provide a copy of this Order to counsel of record and to Jay Donald Witkowski personally. 2