Atkins v. North Dakota
Annotate this CaseCody Michael Atkins had a lengthy history of proceedings before the district court and the North Dakota Supreme Court, most of which stemmed from his guilty plea to gross sexual imposition in 2015, and the series of appeals and applications for post-conviction relief that followed. Atkins appealed an order that summarily dismissed his most recent application for post-conviction relief. Atkins argued the district court erred in sua sponte dismissing the case, failing to give him notice prior to dismissal, applying affirmative defenses not raised by the state, and by failing to address his actual innocence argument. Explaining that summary dismissal of an application before the State responded was “analogous to dismissal of a civil complaint under N.D.R.Civ.P. 12(b) for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted,” or “appropriate when there is no genuine issue as to any material fact,” the Supreme Court concluded the district court did not err in dismissing his case: “Atkins fails to raise a genuine issue of material fact.”
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