McDonald v. Hannigan

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Lockett, J.:

Prisoner David R. McDonald appealed the district court’s summary denial of a petition for writ of habeas corpus, K.S.A. 60-1501. The Court of Appeals dismissed the appeal for lack of jurisdiction, holding that McDonald’s notice of appeal was untimely filed. McDonald filed a petition for review claiming the expanded unique circumstances doctrine should be applied and he should be permitted to proceed. We granted his petition for review and we now reverse the order of the Court of Appeals.

We set out the procedural facts of the case in detail…