Burgie v. State (Majority, with Dissenting)
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The Supreme Court affirmed the circuit court’s order denying Appellant’s petition for leave to proceed in forma pauperis with a petition for declaratory judgment, holding that the underlying petition clearly failed to state a colorable cause of action.
Appellant sought a declaratory judgment that the Court’s procedural rules governing postconviction relief for those inmates not under a sentence of death, Ark. R. Crim. P. 37.1-37.4, are constitutional because the rules fail to require appointment of counsel to assist a prisoner in applying for that postconviction relief. The Supreme Court held that the circuit court did not abuse its discretion in finding that Appellant should not be permitted to proceed as a pauper because the declaratory judgment petition failed to demonstrate a colorable cause of action.
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