In Re Hart

Petitioner appeals the Orange Superior Court’s denial of his petition for post-conviction relief pursuant to 13 VS.A. § 7131. He argues that the court erred when it allocated to him the burden of proving that he had not deliberately bypassed the opportunity to directly appeal an error made by the sentencing court in the application of Rule 32(c)(3). We affirm.

In 1992, petitioner was sentenced to serve twelve to twenty years in prison for the sexual assault of a minor, and this Court affirmed the conviction in State v. Hart, 161 Vt. 647, 643 A.2d 853 (1994). In 1996, petitioner filed a…