State v. Flores

NOTICE: NOT FOR PUBLICATION. UNDER ARIZONA RULE OF THE SUPREME COURT 111(c), THIS DECISION DOES NOT CREATE LEGAL PRECEDENT AND MAY NOT BE CITED EXCEPT AS AUTHORIZED. IN THE ARIZONA COURT OF APPEALS DIVISION ONE STATE OF ARIZONA, Respondent, v. VINCENT ANTHONY FLORES, Petitioner. No. 1 CA-CR 13-0132 PRPC FILED 06-05-2014 Petition for Review from the Superior Court in Maricopa County No. CR2010-152552-001 The Honorable Kristin Hoffman, Judge REVIEW GRANTED; RELIEF DENIED COUNSEL Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, Phoenix By Gerald R. Grant Counsel for Respondent Vincent Anthony Flores, Tucson Petitioner Pro Se MEMORANDUM DECISION Judge Andrew W. Gould delivered the decision of the Court, in which Presiding Judge Lawrence F. Winthrop and Judge Maurice Portley joined. STATE v. FLORES Decision of the Court G O U L D, Judge: ¶1 Petitioner Vincent Anthony Flores petitions this court for review from the dismissal of his petition for post-conviction relief. Presiding Judge Lawrence F. Winthrop and Judges Maurice Portley and Andrew W. Gould have considered the petition for review and, for the reasons stated, grant review and deny relief. ¶2 A jury convicted Flores of two counts of aggravated assault and one count each of resisting arrest and possession or use of dangerous drugs. The trial court sentenced him to an aggregate term of twenty years' imprisonment and we affirmed his convictions and sentences as modified on direct appeal. State v. Flores, 1 CA-CR 11-0373 (Ariz. App. Jan. 24, 2012). Flores filed a pro se petition for post-conviction relief after his counsel found no colorable claims for relief. The trial court summarily dismissed the petition and Flores now seeks review. We have jurisdiction pursuant to Arizona Rule of Criminal Procedure 32.9(c). ¶3 The petition for review properly presents one issue. Flores argues his counsel was ineffective because he failed to interview witnesses or call witnesses to testify at trial. We deny relief. Flores does not identify what witnesses his counsel failed to interview or call to testify, does not identify what information those unidentified witnesses could have provided and does not explain how their testimony would have benefited his defense. He has, therefore, failed to state a colorable claim of ineffective assistance based on the failure to interview witnesses and/or call witnesses to testify at trial. ¶4 While the petition for review presents additional issues, Flores did not raise those issues in the petition for post-conviction relief he filed below and did not seek to amend or supplement his petition. A petition for review may not present issues not first presented to the trial court. State v. Bortz, 169 Ariz. 575, 577, 821 P.2d 236, 238 (App. 1991); Ariz. R. Crim. P. 32.9(c)(1)(ii). While Flores did raise some of these new claims in the reply in support of his petition, the trial court did not consider these new issues. A trial court may refuse to consider new issues and arguments first raised in a reply in support of a petition for post- conviction relief. State v. Lopez, 223 Ariz. 238, 240, ¶ 7, 221 P.3d 1052, 1054 (App. 2009). 2 STATE v. FLORES Decision of the Court ¶5 We grant review and deny relief. :gsh 3