08 68 PETITION FOR POST-CONVICTION RELIEF UNDER RULE 37

• Jurisdiction: Arkansas
• Library: Arkansas Form Book - Complete (2023 Ed.)

08-68 PETITION FOR POST-CONVICTION RELIEF UNDER RULE 37

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF [county] COUNTY, ARKANSAS [division] DIVISION

STATE OF ARKANSAS Plaintiff-Respondent

v.

[DEFENDANT NAME] Defendant-Petitioner

No. [original case number]PETITION FOR POST-CONVICTION RELIEF UNDER RULE 37

Defendant-Petitioner petitions this court for post-conviction relief pursuant to Ark. R. Crim. P. 37, and [he/she] states as follows:

1. Petitioner was convicted of [offense] in this court on [date of conviction] and sentenced to [sentence].

[2. Petitioner appealed [his/her] conviction to the Arkansas [Supreme Court] [Court of Appeals] which affirmed on [date conviction affirmed]. The mandate issued on [date mandate issued]. This petition is filed within 60 days of the mandate and is, therefore, timely.]

[2. Petitioner pled guilty to these offenses. The judgment and commitment was entered on [date of judgment and commitment]. This action is filed within 90 days of the judgment and is, therefore, timely.]

3. Any ineffective assistance of counsel claim asserted herein is based on Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984), and cases following it in the United States and Arkansas supreme Courts and other federal courts. Defendant asserts in each ground, without having to restate it separately, that trial counsel's performance under the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution and Ark. Const., art. 2, § 10 was deficient (performance prong) and prejudicial (prejudice prong). Strickland, 466 U.S. at 698. The "benchmark for judging any claim of ineffectiveness must be whether counsel's conduct so undermined the proper functioning of the adversarial process that the trial cannot be relied on as having produced a just result." Id. at 686. In addition, petitioner asserts all these grounds as due process issues under the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and Art. 2, § 8 of the Arkansas Constitution.

[4. Petitioner also asserts that any ground of procedural default chargeable to trial defense counsel ipso facto demonstrates a failure of performance sufficient under Strickland. [The Arkansas [Supreme Court's] [Court of Appeals'] findings of default amounts to law of the case on defense counsel's failure of performance.]]

GROUNDS FOR RELIEF

Ground 1. Defense Counsel was Constitutionally Ineffective Because [the Sentence Was Imposed in Violation of the Constitution and Laws of the United States or This State] [the Court Imposing the Sentence was Without Jurisdiction to Do So] [the Sentence Was in Excess of the Maximum Sentence Authorized by Law] [the Sentence is Otherwise Subject to Collateral Attack].

[provide legal argument supporting the grounds for relief; please refer to Notes below]

[Ground 2. Defense Counsel was Constitutionally Ineffective Because [the Sentence Was Imposed in Violation of the Constitution and Laws of the United States or This State] [the Court Imposing the Sentence was Without Jurisdiction to Do So] [the...