IN THE INDIANA SUPREME COURT
MINOR, Thomas C., ) Court of Appeals
appellant, ) cause no. 49A02-0202-PC-169
v. )
) Supreme Court
STATE OF INDIANA, ) cause no. 49S02-0306-PC-259
appellee. )
PUBLISHED ORDER
Thomas Minor is appealing the denial of post-conviction relief. He
claims his appellate lawyer on direct appeal was ineffective for failing to
raise on appeal the propriety of Minor’s being tried by a six-person jury,
in violation of Ind. Code § 35-37-1-1. The Court of Appeals affirmed the
denial of post-conviction relief. Minor v. State, 782 N.E.2d 459 (Ind. Ct.
App. 2003), reh’g denied.
The Court of Appeals determined that the performance of Minor’s
appellate lawyer was deficient, but held that reversal is unwarranted
because Minor has not shown that his conviction was fundamentally unfair or
unreliable. 782 N.E.2d at 462, citing Lockhart v. Fretwell, 506 U.S. 364,
369 (1993), and Williams v. State, 706 N.E.2d 149, 154 (Ind. 1999). As the
State conceded on rehearing, however, the analysis of the Court of Appeals
failed to take into account the more recent cases of Williams v. Taylor,
529 U.S. 362 (2000), and Segura v. State, 749 N.E.2d 496 (Ind. 2001).
In accordance with Ind. Appellate Rule 58(A), we grant transfer of
jurisdiction, vacate the opinion of the Court of Appeals, and remand to the
Court of Appeals for reconsideration of its analysis in light of this more
recent authority.
The Clerk is directed to send a copy of this order to the Marion
Superior Court, Criminal Division 3; to the Hon. Sanford M. Brook, Chief
Judge of the Court of Appeals; to Steve Lancaster, Court of Appeals
Administrator; to Janet Roberts Blue, Commissioner of the Court of Appeals;
to the Indiana Attorney General; to the State Public Defender; and to all
counsel of record.
Done at Indianapolis, Indiana this 23rd day of June, 2003.
/s/ Randall T. Shepard
Chief Justice of Indiana
All Justices concur.
Minor v. State
Combined Opinion