State v. Oliver

Notwithstanding the axiom that a conviction based on a defendant’s plea is either constitutionally valid or invalid, the majority’s opinion is somewhat a judicial shell game which requires a defendant to locate the procedural pellet for challenging the constitutionality of the defendant’s prior plea-based conviction. Fundamental unfairness occurs, however, because there is no pellet to be uncovered.

The majority notes the statement in Gonzales v. Grammer, 848 F.2d 894, 896 n.3 (8th Cir. 1988): “A state is at liberty to set up whatever procedural requirements it deems necessary for processing…