by Dale Chappell
The term “procedural default” is a significant barrier in federal habeas corpus petitions. It means that if a claim could have been raised on direct appeal or at any earlier stage but was not, a federal court generally cannot consider the claim. However, there are several recognized ...
by Dale Chappell
As most federal prisoners know, the so-called “Savings Clause” under 28 U.S.C. § 2255(e) is now dead in the wake of the ultra-conservative Supreme Court’s questionable decision in Jones v. Hendrix, 143 S. Ct. 1857 (2023). If you’re not aware, Hendrix ended the use of the Savings Clause, ...
by Dale Chappell
In the name of finality, federal courts are reluctant to undo criminal judgments of the state courts—especially repeated attempts by petitioners to do so under federal habeas corpus. When the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (“AEDPA”) came along in 1996, codifying longstanding rules prohibiting multiple attempts ...
by Dale Chappell
Refusing to uphold an unconstitutional death sentence, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit held on March 22, 2023, that the State’s forfeiture of a procedural defense in a habeas corpus appeal could not be revived after a remand from the U.S. Supreme Court.
Over 20 years ago, Sammie Stokes was convicted of murder and sentenced to death in a South Carolina state court. When all his appeals and state postconviction challenges were denied, Stokes filed for habeas corpus relief under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 in federal court. He raised, among other claims, that his trial lawyers were constitutionally ineffective for not presenting mitigating evidence of his strained upbringing at sentencing. However, this claim was not exhausted in state court, as required by federal habeas law, so the magistrate judge held an evidentiary hearing to determine whether Stokes’ postconviction review (“PCR”) counsel had failed to raise this claim.
The State objected to the federal court holding an evidentiary hearing, arguing that the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (“AEDPA”) bars the court from considering any evidence that was not part of the existing state-court record at the time of the federal habeas filing. This provision, ...
by Dale Chappell
If you’re filing for post-convictionrelief under 28 U.S.C. § 2255, getting the court to grant an evidentiary hearing is a big step toward getting that relief. Successful § 2255 motions are often based on claims asserting facts that are not in the record. Indeed, the primary purpose ...
by Dale Chappell
The slam dunk for federal habeas claims, if such a thing exists, would be a claim that successfully challenges the evidence in a criminal case. By tossing the unlawfully-obtained evidence, not only would the conviction be overturned, but the prosecution wouldn’t have a case for a new ...
by Dale Chappell
Believe it or not, someone proving they’re “actually innocent” of their criminal offense is not enough to win federal habeas corpus relief. That’s because actual innocence, by itself, is not a constitutional violation to allow for federal habeas relief. Instead, it’s only the first step toward relief, ...
by Dale Chappell
District court judges in the federal courts have always had judicial assistants, in addition to law clerks, helping with their caseloads. Long before magistrate judges became what they are today, they were called “commissioners,” who were basically lawyers hired on an as-needed basis.
But in 1958, Congress ...
by Dale Chappell
It’s long been said that a valid guilty plea goes a long way in barring post-conviction relief in the courts. While that can be true for challenges to the guilty plea itself, it’s often not true for challenges to a sentence resulting from that guilty plea. After ...
by Jacob Barrett and Dale Chappell
The general public’s familiarity with the government’s use of informants in criminal proceedings is largely confined to movies and TV documentaries. Yet, every year, the government negotiates tens of thousands of deals “off the record,” which are subject to few restrictions and have little ...
