Allen v. State

OPINION

REID, Chief Justice.

This case presents for review the dismissal, upon the State’s motion, of the appellant’s 1989 pro se petition for post-conviction relief, without the appointment of counsel or further response by the State. Summary dismissal of the petition is not consistent with the language of the Post-Conviction Procedures Act or prior decisions of this Court.

The appellant was convicted in 1968 of first degree murder for the shooting of a police officer, and he was sentenced to 99 years in the penitentiary; the conviction and sentence were affirmed on appeal. Canady v. State, 3…