STATE OF LOUISIANA v. DARRELL DEWAYNE DRAUGHN (2025)

Although the defendant's pro se post-conviction application has been pending for seventeen years, it was not “left” to languish. Rather, the defendant was without enrolled counsel to investigate and draft a “counseled” supplement to his pro se application for post-conviction relief for most of those years. So, while counsel in State v. Reed, 25-00423 (La. 4/11/25), ____ So. 3d ____, 2025 WL 1095302, filed a supplement to the defendant's pro se, “shell” post-conviction application shortly after the death warrant was issued in that case, Reed's counsel has been enrolled longer than counsel for the defendant herein. Reed's present counsel enrolled in June 2024, well over nine months before filing the counseled supplement to Reed's pro se post-conviction application on April 7, 2025. Counsel for the defendant herein enrolled last month in March 2025. Additionally, prior counsel for Reed had completed a significant portion of the post-conviction investigation for Reed's case in 2018 and 2019. The delay in filing Reed's counseled supplement was due to the State's action of having Reed's prior counsel disqualified in 2019.

Thus, under the circumstances of this case, it is eminently proper to minimally allow the defendant's present counsel a similar amount of time as that taken by Reed's present counsel to prepare a counseled supplement to the defendant's pro se post-conviction application.

GUIDRY, J., additionally concurs.