State v. McQuaid

The opinion of the Court was delivered by

STEIN, J.

This appeal addresses the denial of defendant’s second petition for post-conviction relief (PCR) filed approximately seven years after his guilty plea to felony murder and theft. Defendant, Robert McQuaid, based his second PCR petition largely on a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel, alleging that he had pled guilty because of the erroneous advice that if tried and convicted of the pending charges he could be subject to the death penalty. The Appellate Division upheld the trial court’s denial of PCR based on the procedural bar of Rule…