2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE THIRTY-FOUR Appendix - Rules of Court (§§ 10.5 — 173) › II - Rules of Criminal Procedure (§ 173) › Chapter XIII-A - PROCEEDINGS SUBSEQUENT TO CONVICTION › Rule 192.1 - PROCEEDING SUBSEQUENT TO SENTENCE; BEFORE THE COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE AND THE DISTRICT COURT

(a) Who may request it.— Any person who is imprisoned by virtue of a judgment rendered by any Division of the Court of First Instance and who alleges the right to be released because:
(1) The sentence was imposed in violation of the Constitution or the laws of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico or of the Constitution and laws of the United States; or
(2) the court lacked jurisdiction to impose such sentence; or
(3) the sentence imposed exceeds the penalty prescribed by law, or
(4) the sentence is subject to collateral attack for any reason, may file a motion, in the part of the court which imposed the sentence, to vacate, set aside, or correct the judgment.
The motion for said purposes may be filed at any time. All the grounds which the petitioner may have to seek the remedy provided in this rule shall be included in the motion. Grounds not included shall be considered to have been waived, unless the court, in consideration of a subsequent motion, determines that they could not have been reasonably filed in the original motion.
(b) Notice and hearing.— Unless the motion and the record of the case conclusively show that the person is not entitled to any remedy at all, the court shall order that copy of the motion be served on the prosecuting attorney of the corresponding part, in the case of a judgment rendered by the Court of First Instance; and in the case of a judgment rendered by the District Court, on the prosecuting attorney of the Court of First Instance to which appeals from judgments of the said District Court may be taken. The court shall furnish legal aid to petitioner, if he has none, shall set the hearing of the motion promptly, [shall assure itself that petitioner has included all the grounds he may have to seek the remedy,] shall fix and admit bail in the proper cases, shall establish the questions in controversy, and shall make findings of fact and conclusions of law with respect thereto.
If the court determines that the judgment was rendered without jurisdiction, or that the sentence imposed exceeds the penalty prescribed by law, or that for any reason it is subject to collateral attack, or that there has been such violation of petitioner’s constitutional rights as to render it susceptible to collateral attack the court shall vacate it and set it aside and shall order that the petitioner be released, or it shall render a new judgment, or shall grant a new trial, as it may deem proper.
The court shall consider and decide said motion without the presence of the petitioner at the hearing, unless a question of fact is raised which requires his presence.
The trial court shall not be bound to consider another motion filed by the same inmate to request the same remedy.
The order entered by the District Court shall be appealable before the corresponding Court of First Instance which court shall hold a new hearing. The order entered by the Court of First Instance in these cases, in original proceedings or on appeal of the District Court, shall be reviewable by the Supreme Court by way or certiorari.
History —Added on Mar. 9, 1967; June 2, 1967, No. 99, p.323, eff. 60 days after May 15, 1967.