Cookish v. Commissioner of Correction

Summary

The court held that the habeas petition was patently defective because the petitioner was not in custody for the conviction he challenged, but the habeas court used the wrong procedural mechanism by dismissing it under the post-issuance dismissal rule rather than declining to issue the writ during preliminary review. Because the writ was never issued, the petitioner was not entitled to appointed counsel, notice, or an opportunity to be heard, and the procedural error was not plain error. The court also rejected construing the petition as one for coram nobis because it was filed decades beyond the applicable three-year period.