State v. Alegre

Defendant appeals the denial of his petition for court-appointed counsel for the purposes of DNA testing. He contends that, because his petition met all of the statutory requirements, appointment of counsel was mandatory under ORS 138.694 (2013), amended by Oregon Laws 2015, chapter 564, section 3.1 On review of the full record, it is clear that the trial court denied his petition because it believed, incorrectly, that defendant sought counsel for purposes of direct appeal. Because the court never evaluated the adequacy of the petition for the purpose of preparing and filing a motion for DNA…