Reese v. State
Annotate this CaseAppellant was convicted of murdering a sixteen-year-old girl. The Supreme Judicial Court affirmed. This appeal concerned Appellant’s second petition for postconviction review, which asserted sixteen grounds. The first five grounds asserted that the attorney who represented Appellant in his first petition for postconviction review was ineffective in several respects. The trial court dismissed those grounds, concluding (1) Maine law does not permit a second petition to challenge the effectiveness of counsel who represented a petition in a prior petition; and (2) the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Martinez v. Ryan was not retroactive and, therefore, had no effect on Appellant’s first petition, which was denied before Martinez was decided. The court then denied the remainder of Appellant’s petition after an evidentiary hearing. The Supreme Judicial Court affirmed, holding that Martinez did not provide Appellant with the right to challenge the effectiveness of postconviction counsel in a subsequent postconviction review petition.
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