期刊名称：Utah OnLaw: The Utah Law Review Online Supplement
出版年度：2013
卷号：2013
期号：1
语种：English
出版社：Faculty of Education
摘要：This Note analyzes the particular burden that the PCRA places on indigent defendants, in non-capital cases, without the benefit of appointed counsel in post-conviction proceedings through constitutional or statutory provisions. Because these defendants must often move forward pro se in challenging their convictions, they may not recognize the ineffective performance of their counsel as a potential ground for relief. Even where the shortcomings of counsel are recognized, the defendant may not have sufficient resources and legal knowledge to bring a petition within the one-year period allowed by statute. The limited tolling provisions provided for in the statute do not adequately address the challenges facing these defendants, as they relate only to exceptional circumstances of government misconduct. Compounding the problem is the removal of the “interests of justice” exception from the PCRA, precluding judicial review of meritorious petitions that are not timely filed. Because a post-conviction petition is often the only avenue for an indigent prisoner to vindicate his or her right to effective counsel, these restrictions on this remedy likely run afoul of the Utah Constitution’s open courts provision.
