IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF IDAHO Docket No. 45522 MAJID KOLESTANI, aka NASTARAN ) KOLESTANI, ) Filed: December 21, 2018 ) Petitioner-Appellant, ) Karel A. Lehrman, Clerk ) v. ) THIS IS AN UNPUBLISHED ) OPINION AND SHALL NOT STATE OF IDAHO, ) BE CITED AS AUTHORITY ) Respondent. ) ) Appeal from the District Court of the Fifth Judicial District, State of Idaho, Twin Falls County. Hon. G. Richard Bevan, District Judge. Judgment of the district court summarily dismissing petition for post-conviction relief, affirmed. Eric D. Fredericksen, State Appellate Public Defender; Ben P. McGreevy, Deputy Appellate Public Defender, Boise, for appellant. Hon. Lawrence G. Wasden, Attorney General; Lori A. Fleming, Deputy Attorney General, Boise, for respondent. ________________________________________________ GRATTON, Chief Judge Majid Kolestani appeals from the district court’s judgment dismissing her petition for post-conviction relief without an evidentiary hearing and from the district court’s order denying her motion for reconsideration. Kolestani argues that the district court erred in summarily dismissing her post-conviction claims because she presented genuine issues of material fact on whether her plea was made knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily and whether her counsel was ineffective. In addition, Kolestani alleges that the district court abused its discretion in denying her motion for reconsideration without comment. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm. 1 I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND In 2009, Kolestani (an Iranian refugee) was charged with first-degree murder with a weapons enhancement, Idaho Code § 18-4003, in relation to the shooting death of her husband. Pursuant to a plea agreement, the State agreed to dismiss the weapons enhancement and Kolestani pled guilty to first degree murder. As a consequence of the plea agreement, Kolestani waived her right to appeal and to file an Idaho Criminal Rule 35 motion. The district court sentenced Kolestani to a unified term of life imprisonment, with eighteen years determinate. In 2015, Kolestani filed a pro se petition for post-conviction relief. Thereafter, Kolestani was appointed post-conviction counsel and filed a verified amended post-conviction petition. First, as relevant to her claim on appeal, Kolestani alleges that her guilty plea was the result of coercion and, therefore, was not made knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily. Second, she claims her trial counsel was ineffective because counsel gave her erroneous advice regarding the deportation consequences of her plea. The State responded to the amended petition and moved for summary dismissal on the bases that the petition was time-barred and otherwise failed to raise a genuine issue of material fact entitling Kolestani to an evidentiary hearing on any of her claims. The district court entered an order partially granting and partially denying the State’s motion for summary dismissal. The partial denial was based, in part, on the finding that Kolestani had presented genuine issues as to whether her case was entitled to equitable tolling. The district court granted the State’s motion for summary dismissal as to the involuntary guilty plea and erroneous advice claims finding that the claims lacked evidentiary support and were disproved by ...
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