Brooks v. State

There are two fundamental and related problems with relegating a defendant solely to a petition for a writ of mandamus instead of a second Rule 32 petition to apply for an out-of-time appeal from the denial of the defendant's first Rule 32 petition. First, the defendant's entitlement to an out-of-time appeal depends on facts about judgments, rulings, entries, notices, filings, and the like, and the dates thereof, that first should be presented to and determined by the trial court. A petition for a writ of mandamus filed directly with an appellate court entirely skips such a presentation and…