Council v. Catoe

Chief Justice TOAL:

This Court granted the State’s petition for certiorari to review whether the post-conviction relief (PCR) judge erroneously granted Donney Council’s (respondent) motion to stay the PCR proceedings until he was deemed competent. We reverse the PCR judge’s imposition of an indefinite stay and adopt a new approach for determining whether a petitioner’s PCR hearing should go forward when he claims incompetence.

Factual/Procedural Background

Respondent was convicted of murder, administering poison, burglary, larceny, grand larceny of a motor vehicle, kidnapping, and criminal…