When we do a PCRA, we file a petition under the Post-Conviction Relief Act. But, the topics that we’re most generally talking about is that your own lawyer at trial did a poor job, or your own lawyer on the direct appeal did a poor job, that they made a mistake, that there was something they did that was wrong. We can also do a PCRA if there’s newly discovered evidence. Meaning that there’s something that was not available to you, the client, or your defense attorney at the time that you went to trial on the case. We can also argue under the PCRA governmental interference. Meaning that we’ve learned now that the government suppressed items that they had that they should’ve given us in discovery that we should’ve known about, like a witness statement or DNA evidence. And had we known about that that the outcome would’ve been different.

The PCRA also encompasses a lot of other areas that we can file under. But, the three I just mentioned are the most frequent, and that’s what we see the most amount of PCRA petitions under.