In Re Bailey

Dooley, J.,

¶ 24. dissenting. The majority has endorsed a procedure under which the Defender General determines the merits of petitioner’s case, through a secret process undisclosed to petitioner or this Court, and we rubber stamp the result to deny petitioner any counsel for his appeal and effectively dismiss the appeal. This is done, we are told, to protect petitioner from the “sandbagging” of his appeal by appellate counsel, as if this process was created to help the client. Ante, ¶ 12. In fact, the hallmark of this process is prejudice to the client, with this Court intentionally ignoring…