(a) Form Prescribed by Supreme Judicial Court. The petition shall be in the form prescribed by the Supreme Judicial Court.(b) Challenges Allowed in Single Petition. The petition shall be limited to the assertion of a claim for review of one or more criminal judgments arising from a single trial or from a single proceeding for the entry of one or more pleas of guilty or nolo contendere, or of a single post-sentencing proceeding under 15 M.R.S. ยง2124(2). If a petitioner desires to attack the validity of criminal judgments arising from two or more trials or plea proceedings or two or more post-sentencing proceedings, the petitioner shall do so by separate petitions. The court in its discretion may order separate consideration of criminal judgments challenged in the same petition or may order consideration together of criminal judgments or post-sentencing proceedings which are challenged in separate petitions.(c) Designation of Respondent. The petition shall designate the State of Maine as the respondent.(d) Identification of Criminal Judgment, Post-sentencing Proceeding, Court, and Date. The petition shall identify the criminal judgment that is challenged. If the petition challenges a post-sentencing proceeding, it shall identify both the post-sentencing proceeding and the original criminal judgment that generated the post-sentencing proceeding. The petition must include the name of the case, the docket number, the date of entry of judgment, and the date of imposition of sentence, and must identify the Unified Criminal Docket in which the criminal judgment was entered, or if the criminal judgment was entered prior to unification, the petition shall identify the county or region where the judgment was entered.(e) Prerequisites to an Adjudication on the Merits; Reasons for Relief and Facts in Support Thereof. The petition shall briefly address the five statutory prerequisites to an adjudication on the merits identified in Rule 66. It shall briefly state each ground for relief and the essential facts in support of each ground. Argument, citation, and discussion of legal authorities shall be omitted from the petition but may be filed in a separate document.(f) Specification of Relief Sought. The petition shall specify the relief requested. Failure to specify the precise relief requested or failure to specify the appropriate relief available shall not preclude the court from granting any relief to which the petitioner may be entitled.
