(a) The court shall review the case after the district attorney general’s response is filed. If, on reviewing the petition, the response, files, and records, the court determines conclusively that the petitioner is entitled to no relief, the court shall dismiss the petition. The order of dismissal shall set forth the court’s conclusions of law. If the court does not dismiss the petition, the court shall enter an order setting an evidentiary hearing. The order of dismissal or the order setting an evidentiary hearing shall be entered no later than thirty (30) days after the filing of the state‘s response. The evidentiary hearing shall be within four (4) calendar months of the entry of the court’s order. The deadline shall not be extended by agreement, and the deadline may be extended only by order of the court based upon a finding that unforeseeable circumstances render a continuance a manifest necessity. An extension shall not exceed sixty (60) days.
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Terms Used In Tennessee Code 40-30-109

  • Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
  • Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
  • Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. Source:
  • State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Statute of limitations: A law that sets the time within which parties must take action to enforce their rights.
(b) Discovery is not available in a proceeding under this section except as provided under Rule 16 of the Tennessee Rules of Criminal Procedure.
(c) The petitioner may withdraw a petition at any time prior to the hearing without prejudice to any rights to refile, but the withdrawn petition shall not toll the statute of limitations set forth in § 40-30-102.
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