Defendant was sentenced to life imprisonment for murder in 2001, filed his first post-conviction relief petition in 2007, and filed his second petition in 2015. The Appellate Division ruled defendant's second petition was untimely under Rule 3:22-12's time limits. Those limits cannot be relaxed by invoking Rule 1:1-2. In 2009, the Supreme Court amended Rule 1:3-4(c) to prohibit enlargement of the time limits in Rule 3:22-12, and added Rule 3:22-12(c) prohibiting relaxation except as provided by Rule 3:22-12 itself. Moreover, in 2010, the Supreme Court amended Rule 3:22-4(b) and Rule 3:22-12(a)(2) to require second petitions to be filed within one year of specified events. Because that time limit applies "notwithstanding any other provision of this rule," it cannot be relaxed by showing excusable neglect and a fundamental injustice, as permitted for first petitions under the 2010 amendment. These amendments to the procedural rules of court apply to previously-convicted defendant, who had no vested right to file a petition fourteen years out of time.
