Allison v. State

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At issue was whether the three-year statute of limitations in Iowa Code 822.3 applies where a postconviction relief (PCR) petitioner files an untimely second petition for PCR alleging that counsel for his timely filed first petition for PCR was ineffective.The district court concluded that the second petition’s allegations of ineffective assistance of postconviction counsel were not grounds to avoid the three-year statutory bar. The court of appeals affirmed, citing the Supreme Court’s decision in Dible v. State, 557 N.W.2d 881, 883, 886 (Iowa 1996).The Supreme Court qualified Dible and held that where a PCR petition alleging ineffective assistance of trial counsel has been timely filed per section 822.3 and there is a successive PCR petition alleging that postconvcition counsel was ineffective in presenting the ineffective-assistance-of-trial-counsel claim, the timing of the filing of the second PCR petition relates back to the timing of the filing of the original PCR petition for purposes of Iowa Code section 822.3 if the successive PCR petition is filed promptly after the conclusion of the first PCR petition. The Court therefore vacated the court of appeals and reversed the decision of the district court and remanded the case. View "Allison v. State" on Justia Law