Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/boundvolumes/529bv.pdf
Page Number: 515

529US2

Unit: $U47

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440

WILLIAMS v. TAYLOR

Opinion of the Court

in anything but a cursory manner triggers the opening clause
of § 2254(e)(2).

As we hold there was a failure to develop the factual basis
of this Brady claim in state court, we must determine if the
requirements in the balance of § 2254(e)(2) are satisﬁed so
that petitioner’s failure is excused. Subparagraph (B) of
§ 2254(e)(2) conditions a hearing upon a showing, by clear and
convincing evidence, that no reasonable factﬁnder would
have found petitioner guilty of capital murder but for the
alleged constitutional error. Petitioner concedes he cannot
make this showing, see Brief for Petitioner 25, and the case
has been presented to us on that premise. For these rea-
sons, we afﬁrm the Court of Appeals’ judgment barring an
evidentiary hearing on this claim.

B

We conclude petitioner has met the burden of showing he
was diligent in efforts to develop the facts supporting his
juror bias and prosecutorial misconduct claims in collateral
proceedings before the Virginia Supreme Court.

Petitioner’s claims are based on two of the questions posed
to the jurors by the trial judge at voir dire. First, the judge
asked prospective jurors, “Are any of you related to the fol-
lowing people who may be called as witnesses?” Then he
read the jurors a list of names, one of which was “Deputy
Sheriff Claude Meinhard.” Bonnie Stinnett, who would
later become the jury foreperson, had divorced Meinhard in
1979, after a 17-year marriage with four children. Stinnett
remained silent, indicating the answer was “no.” Meinhard,
as the ofﬁcer who investigated the crime scene and interro-
gated Cruse, would later become the prosecution’s lead-off
witness at trial.

After reading the names of the attorneys involved in the
case, including one of the prosecutors, Robert Woodson, Jr.,
the judge asked, “Have you or any member of your immedi-
ate family ever been represented by any of the aforemen-