The State May Require Post-Conviction Relief Petitions to be Determined by 2026

If you have a post-conviction relief petition filed and pending in Louisiana, you'd better hurry. That's because there's a high likelihood that the Louisiana legislature is going to put a deadline on when those pending petitions have to be decided on by courts if a proposed new law passes.

Read on as our Louisiana post-conviction relief attorney at the Law Offices of Philip B. Adams explains more.

Resolve Them by 2026? 

The proposed new law would impose time constraints on post-conviction relief petitions filed on or before 2023, saying that they must be resolved by 2026. This is unique—it doesn't alter the time that someone has to actually file a post-conviction petition but rather creates a deadline that courts have to meet to resolve already filed and pending petitions or cases.

Good or Bad? 

There are two sides to the argument over whether this law is helpful or damaging. Legislators want to resolve cases that they see as "hanging on forever," and bring finality to these cases, both for victims and to clear up busy and crowded court dockets.

But opponents say that creating a deadline by when post-conviction relief cases must be decided invites error—in a mad rush to resolve a bunch of cases by a set deadline, courts are more apt to make errors or make decisions that would go against the due process interests of the Defendants, who are asking for the post-conviction relief.

Worse, if there are errors made because there is a rush to conclude cases by a given deadline, those errors can be appealed, and then, opponents say, you'd have even more of a backlog of cases in the court system should those appeals be successful. 

Even state offices that prosecute these cases (that is, which oppose those seeking post-conviction relief) have spoken out against the bill, saying that if everybody who has a pending post-conviction relief petition were to rush to get their cases resolved all at once, these offices would be strained beyond their capabilities to competently manage the cases.

How Long Do You Have to File? 

As far as the deadline to actually file your petition for post-conviction relief, you only have two years to do that after your conviction becomes final. A conviction becomes final, thus starting that two-year countdown, two years after your conviction or two years after the conclusion of any appeal from a conviction (which might be way longer than two years after the actual, initial conviction).

You shouldn't run to a post-conviction relief attorney at the last minute. Although two years seems like a long time if you do believe that there are grounds to have your conviction overturned or else to have a sentence lowered or changed, there are limited grounds to do that, and many of them will take your post-conviction attorney time to look into and evaluate.

And because a post-conviction relief petition is based on new grounds, not already challenged in your original criminal case, your attorney will need the extra time to investigate the issues that you bring up to him or her as a basis for your post-conviction relief. 

Post-conviction relief is not an appeal. It is asking for a conviction to be overturned, even after appeal, on very specific grounds, the discovery of new evidence being one of them. For more information, contact the Law Offices of Philip B. Adams today. We are top-rated, relentless, and aggressive Louisiana criminal defense lawyers. Complete our "Contact Us" page here. You may significantly benefit by having an attorney with legal competence and experience assist you with your Louisiana criminal case. We have offices in Shreveport and handle criminal defense cases throughout Louisiana.