State v. Rue

The opinion of the Court was delivered by

LONG, J.

This appeal stems from the claim of defendant, Dudley Rue, that the lawyer assigned to represent him on his first post-conviction relief (PCR) petition essentially jettisoned his case by pointing out its deficiencies to the trial court and characterizing it as “without merit.” He contends that his attorney’s conduct violated Rule 3:22-6 which provides in relevant part: (1) on a first PCR petition, counsel should be assigned; (2) counsel may not withdraw on the ground of lack of merit of the petition; and (3) he or she “should advance any…