U.S. v. Powell The 4th Circuit denies post-conviction relief for a defendant’s 240-month sentence for conspiracy to distribute cocaine, enhanced due to defendant’s prior North Carolina drug conviction; the rule defendant advances from a 2010 U.S. Supreme Court case is not retroactively applicable to cases on collateral review, and defendant’s § 2255 motion is untimely.

Tagged with: Criminal Practice habeas corpus Prior Conviction sentencing

U.S. v. Fulks A South Carolina defendant sentenced to death for his role in carjacking, kidnapping and the murder of two women in separate incidents during a crime spree after a Kentucky jail break cannot overturn his death sentence with claims of ineffective assistance of counsel; the 4th Circuit says none of the alleged errors by counsel would have made a difference in the outcome of this case.

Tagged with: Criminal Practice Death Penalty habeas corpus

Winston v. Pearson The 4th Circuit affirms a grant of habeas relief to a defendant convicted of the capital murder of a couple in their home, after the district court’s de novo review of defendant’s claim that his trial attorneys were ineffective for failure to raise a claim under Atkins v. Virginia that defendant’s mental retardation barred imposition of the death penalty.

Tagged with: Criminal Practice habeas corpus Ineffective Assistance Claim

Deyton v. Keller Although the trial judge at defendants’ trial for armed robbery of Sunday worship services at a North Carolina church made references to religion, those references did not violate defendants’ right to due process, as defendants’ choice to target a church during weekly services “imbued their crime with an undeniably religious character”; the 4th Circuit denies defendants’ claim for habeas relief under 28 U.S.C. § 2254.

Tagged with: Constitutional Criminal Practice Due Process habeas corpus

Waddell v. Dep’t of Correction A North Carolina prisoner whose 1975 death sentence was commuted to life in prison loses his challenge to the state’s application of “good time” credits to allegedly extend his sentence beyond his effective release date; the 4th Circuit upholds the district court decision that the prisoner’s habeas petition...

Tagged with: Criminal Practice habeas corpus Prisons & Jails

Richardson v. Branker The 4th Circuit reverses a district court’s issuance of a habeas writ to a North Carolina death-row defendant, as the proper review by the federal court indicates the conviction cannot be overturned for the claimed errors of ineffective assistance of counsel, withholding of exculpatory evidence or proof of petitioner’s mental retardation.

Tagged with: Constitutional Criminal Practice habeas corpus Ineffective Assistance Claim

Hennis v. Hemlick A former soldier who was acquitted of rape and murder as an enlisted man in 1989 on retrial and now faces the same charges again after DNA testing in 2006 implicated him for the same crime, cannot avoid court-martial with a federal habeas petition; the 4th Circuit upholds “Councilman” abstention, as defendant must exhaust all available remedies within the military justice system before seeking collateral review in federal court.

Tagged with: Court Martial Criminal Practice habeas corpus

DeCastro v. Branker The 4th Circuit upholds denial of habeas relief for a North Carolina defendant sentenced to death for his role in the fatal stabbing of a husband and wife who owned a mobile home park where a co-defendant had lived; none of the multiple allegations of ineffective assistance of counsel by the lawyer who represented defendant at trial, from his investigation of the case to his decisions about witnesses presented at trial and sentencing, support defendant's petition for a writ of habeas corpus.

Tagged with: Constitutional Death Penalty effective assistance habeas corpus

Jackson v. Kelly A Virginia federal trial court erred in granting a writ of habeas corpus to a petitioner who raped and murdered an 88-year-old woman in her home; the 4th Circuit says the district court erred by relying on evidence from its own hearing in assessing petitioner's mitigation-related Strickland claims.

Tagged with: effective assistance habeas corpus

Tice v. Johnson. The 4th Circuit upholds a writ of habeas corpus for Derek Tice, one of the "Norfolk Four" convicted of the rape and murder of Michelle Bosko, and says the Supreme Court of . . .

Tagged with: Constitutional Criminal Practice habeas corpus ineffective assistance