Summers

I. Background

Petitioner-Appellant Marilyn Summers pled guilty in Ari- zona Superior Court on November 12, 1997, to two counts of perjury, two counts of theft, and one count of fraudulent scheme and artifice. On December 15, 1997, she was sen- tenced to twenty years in prison and seven years of probation, and was ordered to pay more than $1.5 million in restitution. By pleading guilty, Summers waived her right to a conven- tional direct appeal under Arizona law, but she retained the right to seek review in an “of-right proceeding” under Ari- zona Rule of Criminal Procedure 32. See Ariz. R. Crim. P. 32.1, 32.4. As we explain below, a Rule 32 of-right proceed- ing shares a number of attributes with a conventional direct appeal. The primary difference is that a Rule 32 of-right pro- ceeding begins in the Arizona Superior Court where the defendant was convicted and sentenced rather than in the Ari- zona Court of Appeals.

Summers timely sought review in a Rule 32 of-right pro- ceeding. On March 7, 2001, the Superior Court for Pima County dismissed her petition. Summers then petitioned the Arizona Court of Appeals for discretionary review. The Court of Appeals granted review but…