Smith v. State

We will review step-by-step the procedure followed by the trial court in dealing with defendant’s motion for postconviction relief. By so doing we will encounter the challenges to such procedure at the stage of the proceedings to which they are directed.

Filing of petition. When defendant’s motion for post-conviction relief was filed, the trial court faced the threshold inquiry as to whether the motion and the files and records of the action “conclusively show that the prisoner is entitled to no relief.” The words are from the statute, 1 which specifically provides that entitlement to…