AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 11 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO CRIMINAL PROCEDURE.

This Act permits the Superior Court to consider petitions out of sequence where the Attorney General consents and the Court determines consideration to be in the interest of justice. To ensure this exceptional sequencing provision is employed judiciously, the Court will only consider the consent of the Attorney General authorized by Delaware Department of Justice leadership (Attorney General, Chief Deputy Attorney General, State Prosecutor, or Chief County Prosecutors) in response to requests of Office of Defense Services leadership (Chief Defender, Chief Deputy Defender, Chief Conflicts Counsel) where a petitioner is represented by the Office of Defense Services, and in all other circumstances in response to privately retained counsel. This special authorization ensures individual petitioners do not unwittingly forego or disrupt their single opportunity for sentence review and further ensures consistency in modifications to sequencing.