What Is A Rule 32?

What Is A Rule 32 - Petition For Post Conviction Relief?

So let’s talk about what a Petition for Post Conviction Relief is. This is also sometimes referred to as, Rule 32. This most commonly comes up after a plea bargain. Most criminal cases are resolved by a plea bargain. Estimates are over 95% of all criminal cases are resolved with a plea bargain.

So, in a plea bargain what’s important to understand about this is, during the plea bargain, not only do you waive your right to a trial, and all the rights that are associated with going to trial; in addition to that, you also waive another Constitutional Right, which is your right to appeal.

But our Courts have said, that you can’t waive everything. So, you can waive most things on appeal, but there is a little bit leftover, and that’s what the Petition for Post Conviction Relief is. It’s about that section of your Appellate Rights that you just can’t waive.

What are we talking about here? Things like Ineffective Assistance of Counsel. You don’t get to waive the fact that maybe your lawyer gave you bad advice, and you relied on that. Things like newly discovered evidence, something has recently come to light that you could not have known about at the time, even if you had exercised all diligence and something new came up that you couldn’t have known about. That’s the stuff of a Rule 32 Petition for Post Conviction Relief.

So, these also sometimes come up even after trial. After a trial, someone hasn’t waived their right to appeal, and it’s very common to just exercise that right to appeal and do the appeal and let that play out through the system. If the appeal is successful, fantastic, lots of times you might get a new trial.

If the appeal is unsuccessful, then you still have the Rule 32 Petition for Post Conviction Relief to rely upon. This is the vehicle you could raise, even Ineffective Assistance of Counsel against the appellate counsel. So, one of the big differences between the Rule 32 and the Petition for Post Conviction Relief, and an appeal is, the appeal is brought immediately to the Appellate Court. The Rule 32, Petition for Post Conviction Relief, which incidentally needs to be brought, at least a notice needs to be brought within 90 days of the sentencing if you’ve taken a plea. So, you need to keep that in mind; it’s a very tight window.

But, that can be brought to also challenge what also occurred at the plea, but that is brought to the sentencing judge. That’s right, the very same judge who sentences the defendant is the judge who listens first, to the Petition for Post Conviction Relief, and if that’s denied then, that person can appeal the denial of the Petition for Post Conviction Relief to the appellate Court.

One important difference between the appeal and the Rule 32 is because it goes in front of the trial judge, things that are outside the record like Ineffective Assistance of Counsel or other things that might have occurred are not on the record. If the judge grants a hearing, that is generally called an Evidentiary Hearing, then all of that can be brought in to create a new record or supplement the existing record. Then if it’s denied, that whole mess can be brought up to the Court of Appeals.

That’s a little bit of information on a Rule 32 Petition for Post Conviction Relief. But, let me just add as a final note, these are fairly complex matters, and if you’re thinking about a Rule 32 Petition for Post Conviction Relief, especially because of the tight window, it really makes sense to very quickly, contact a criminal defense lawyer who has brought lots of these.