Opinion ID: 2345721
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 14

Heading: Scope Of Review Under The Postconviction Statute

Text: When Arrington's postconviction proceeding was reopened, he not only argued that he should be given a new trial because of the DNA testing results, but also on the grounds that his trial counsel was ineffective for failing to introduce a witness statement and two police reports identifying Ray Canty as Simmons's stabber. The postconviction court determined that it would not consider that evidence because Arrington had waived the ineffective assistance of counsel issue by not raising it at his first postconviction proceeding. On appeal, Arrington argues that [t]he [postconviction] [c]ourt erred because it misunderstood the difference between a second successive petition and a proceeding that is reopened. Once a postconviction petition is reopened, its status is that of the initial postconviction. In other words, it is as if the postconviction proceeding was never closed. The State counters that a reopened postconviction proceeding does not eradicate the concept of waiver, nor does it eliminate the limits placed on both the number of petitions that may be filed, or the time in which postconviction petitions may be filed.