Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District / Feb 26, 2019
Joseph Barber, Appellant, vs. State of Missouri, Respondent.
Joseph Barber appealed the denial of his Rule 29.15 post-conviction relief motion. The motion court had granted post-conviction counsel's motion to treat an untimely amended motion as timely filed, but did so without making a sufficient record of its inquiry into abandonment by counsel. The Eastern District reversed and remanded, holding that merely signing and dating the timeliness motion and making a comment during a hearing was an insufficient record to allow for appellate review of the abandonment inquiry.