Baxter v. Rose

OPINION

HENRY, Justice.

We granted certiorari in this case to review the action of the Court of Criminal Appeals in affirming the dismissal of petitioner’s pro se petition for post-conviction relief without an evidentiary hearing.

Our grant was for the primary purpose of clarifying the law in this jurisdiction with respect to the proper standard of competence to be applied to counsel in criminal representations, and to determine whether privately retained counsel and counsel appointed to represent the indigent are subject to the same standards.

Petitioner was convicted of murder in the first…