Burdge v. Palmateer

*492RIGGS, J.

The issue in this post-conviction proceeding is whether petitioner’s lawyer provided constitutionally adequate assistance at petitioner’s criminal trials. In the criminal cases, the trial court applied a particular statute to increase petitioner’s sentences. Petitioner’s lawyer did not challenge whether the statute applied. Two years later, in a different case, the Court of Appeals interpreted that statute and concluded that it could not be used to enhance sentences in cases like petitioner’s. The post-conviction court rejected petitioner’s petition for relief, but the Court of…