Mississippi Office of Capital Post-Conviction Counsel

The Mississippi Office of Capital Post-Conviction Counsel (CPCC) is a statutorily-created state agency. See Mississippi Code Section 99-39-101. The CPCC was created to provide representation to indigent parties under the sentence of death in post-conviction proceedings as well as ancillary matters related to review of their convictions and sentences. The CPCC is its own state agency and not part of any other agency. 

• Post-conviction is a legal process with elements of both criminal and civil law. It occurs after an individual is convicted and sentenced, and the conviction and sentence is affirmed on appeal. A post-conviction proceeding challenges the legality of some aspect of the criminal trial, the judgment of conviction, or the sentence. 

• Some common examples of claims asserted in a post-conviction petition include but are not limited to: actual innocence; a prosecutor unconstitutionally striking jurors based on their race or gender; the rendering of ineffective assistance of counsel by the trial attorney; a change in the law; or the discovery of new facts. 

• The CPCC consists of a collaborative group of five attorneys, two mitigation specialists, an investigator, and an office administrator. The CPCC dedicates its entire practice to the field of post-conviction in Mississippi and to effectively protecting the constitutional rights and inherent dignity of persons sentenced to death.