Pressley v. Wainwright

I dissent from the majority’s decision to entertain Pressley’s late-filed petition for certiorari, and I deem it essential to explain why.

The contentions in Pressley’s petition are, in essence, that because he expressed a desire for review in this Court, state-provided counsel (either the court-appointed attorney who represented him on his direct appeal or the office of the public defender which agreed to seek certiorari review in this Court) had a duty to file a petition within the thirty-day time limit prescribed by our 1962 Florida Appellate Rule 4.5(c)(6);1 that the failure to file the…