Lopez v. State

Appellant, Jose F. Lopez, filed a petition for post-conviction relief, as amended and supplemented, in the Circuit Court for Montgomery County. Following a hearing, the court denied appellant’s petition on the grounds that laches barred any relief.

Appellant timely appealed and presents the following question, as slightly reframed, for our review:

Did the post-conviction court erroneously deny post-conviction relief on the basis of laches?

We hold that laches is available to bar certain post-conviction relief in cases where sentence was imposed before October 1, 1995. However, because the record…