(A) A resident committed to the South Carolina Sexually Violent Predator Treatment Program shall have the right to challenge the commitment and subsequent periodic reviews based on the ineffective assistance of counsel during the resident’s commitment trial or periodic review proceedings. The resident shall have the burden of proof to establish ineffective assistance of counsel in accordance with the applicable law.

(B) Petitions shall be filed in the original jurisdiction of the South Carolina Supreme Court under the South Carolina Appellate Court Rules within one hundred eighty days of the date that any appeals from the commitment or periodic review proceedings are final. Upon the receipt of the petition, the Clerk of Court of the Supreme Court shall issue an order designating a circuit court or appellate court judge as a referee to make appropriate findings of fact and conclusions of law and shall report the findings and conclusions to the Supreme Court. The designated judge shall have the statewide authority to issue orders as necessary.

(C) Except as provided in this chapter, the South Carolina Rules of Civil Procedure and the South Carolina Rules of Evidence apply to cases filed pursuant to this section, in evidentiary hearings before the designated hearing judge.

(D) The named respondent shall be the Department of Mental Health. A copy of the petition shall be served on the Department of Mental Health and the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office.

(E) Upon the filing of a petition alleging that the resident is indigent and desires appointed counsel, the designated judge shall appoint an attorney to represent the resident. Counsel shall be appointed from the contract attorney list of post-conviction counsel maintained by the South Carolina Commission on Indigent Defense, or such other list of attorneys as the Executive Director of the South Carolina Commission on Indigent Defense shall designate. If no attorney is available from this list, then the designated circuit court judge shall appoint an attorney from the Appointment of Lawyers for Indigents. The designated judge shall not appoint an attorney who previously represented the resident in any prior criminal proceedings underlying the commitment or state post-conviction relief proceedings or appeals from those proceedings, in the original sexually violent predator civil commitment proceeding or appeal from that proceeding, or in any previous or present periodic reviews or appeals therefrom.

(F) The designated judge shall authorize by court order to the particular county clerks of court the disclosure of any pleadings, evidence, transcripts, or other documents filed in any circuit court or appellate court clerk’s office of this State in any case in which the resident was a defendant, respondent, or party to a criminal action or an action under the Sexually Violent Predator Act that was ordered sealed. These materials shall be unsealed for the limited purpose of providing items to the appointed counsel for the resident or the resident himself, if he elects to proceed pro se, and to the Department of Mental Health and its attorneys.

(G) Regardless of whether the resident indicates that he has served the Department of Mental Health, the Clerk of Court of the South Carolina Supreme Court shall forward the filed petition and all accompanying papers to the Department of Mental Health’s Office of General Counsel, as the agent for the service of process for the Department of Mental Health, and a copy to the Attorney General’s Office. The Department of Mental Health, through the Attorney General’s Office acting as its representative, shall file its responsive pleading within thirty days of the receipt of the order appointing counsel, or within thirty days of the receipt of the petition, if counsel is retained, or the receipt of the petition, if the resident is proceeding pro se without a request for counsel at the time of the filing.

(H) In the event that a habeas petition alleging ineffective assistance of counsel claims relating to the resident’s commitment or periodic review is filed before the conclusion of the resident’s appeal from such proceeding, the Clerk of the Supreme Court shall dismiss the petition without prejudice and without requiring a response from the Department of Mental Health.

(I) Within thirty days of an assignment, the designated judge shall issue a scheduling order, including a discovery schedule, and shall set a hearing within not more than one hundred eighty days from the filing of the petition. A final report to the Supreme Court shall be submitted within thirty days from the conclusion of the hearing, including findings of fact and conclusions of law supporting the designated judge’s recommendation. This does not preclude the designated judge from recommending to the Supreme Court that the petition be denied on the basis of the pleadings without a hearing. The recommendation shall set forth the basis for dismissal.

(J) Upon receipt by the Supreme Court of the findings and conclusions of the designated judge, the Clerk of the Supreme Court may set forth an appropriate briefing schedule. The clerk may consider expediting the matter to determine whether the writ of habeas corpus should be granted and the appropriate relief. The court may also issue, as appropriate, orders relating to whether intervening and on-going statutory status review proceedings or appeals from the proceedings are affected in any manner by the habeas corpus actions in its original jurisdiction.