Kortney Lee Elzey v. State of Indiana

Summary

The Indiana Supreme Court affirmed the trial court’s refusal to forward the petitioner’s post‑conviction petition to the State Public Defender, holding that the court did not commit reversible error because the applicable post‑conviction rule did not require such forwarding. The Court also interpreted the term “penal facility” in Indiana Code §33‑40‑1‑2(a) to include county jails, giving indigent inmates in those facilities a statutory right to representation, and directed the Rules Committee to amend the rule to reflect this statutory scope.