Court Opinion

ID: 9693178
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 16:28:48.625374+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:19:41.869042
License: Public Domain

COLEMAN, J.,
concurring.
The trial court found that defendant is competent and that he has voluntarily, knowingly, and intelligently waived his right to pursue post-conviction relief pursuant to Rule 3:22. I continue to agree with the trial court, and would have declined to consider the *276post-conviction relief application by the Public Defender, over defendant’s objections, for the reasons expressed in Martini III, supra, 144 N.J. at 618-27, 677 A.2d 1106 (Coleman, J., dissenting). I agree with the trial court’s determinations in both Martini III and Martini IV, supra, 148 N.J. at 455, 690 A.2d 603.
Now that the Court has permitted the post-conviction relief proceedings to be conducted, I agree with the conclusion reached in Chief Justice Poritz’s opinion that the trial court properly denied the post-conviction relief application. That conclusion and the reasoning advanced to support it are consistent with my views expressed in Martini III and Martini IV. I therefore concur in Chief Justice Poritz’s opinion and the Court’s judgment affirming the trial court’s denial of post-conviction relief.
Justice GARIBALDI joins in this opinion.