People v. Ligon

Chief Justice Kilbride and Justices Freeman, Gar-man, Karmeier, Burke, and Theis concurred in the judgment and opinion.

OPINION

At issue is whether the federal constitution requires appointment of counsel for indigent postconviction petitioners at the summary dismissal stage whenever the appellate court on direct review has declined to address an ineffective assistance of counsel claim because the facts needed to adjudicate the claim are dehors the record and thus cannot be resolved on direct review. For the reasons that follow, we hold that the constitution does not require the appointment of…