§ 9-14-44.Petition — Contents and verification

This section is a checklist for what belongs in a habeas petition under this article, and it asks for more detail than an ordinary civil complaint. The petition has to identify the proceeding that produced the conviction, give the date the challenged judgment was rendered, and lay out clearly how the petitioner’s rights were violated.

Two requirements push the petitioner to show their work. First, the petition has to state with specificity which claims were already raised at trial or on direct appeal, with citations to the record — information the habeas court needs under Code Section 9-14-48 to decide whether a claim was properly preserved. Second, the petition has to identify any earlier attempts to secure relief, and if there was an earlier habeas petition, state which claims it raised — the disclosure that lets a later judge apply the waiver rule in Code Section 9-14-51.

The petition also has to come with support: affidavits, records, or other evidence backing its allegations, or an explanation for why none is attached. What it can’t come with is legal argument — the statute keeps argument and citations of authority out of the petition itself, though the petitioner may file a separate brief making that argument. And the whole document has to be verified under oath, either by the petitioner or by someone else acting on the petitioner’s behalf.