Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/boundvolumes/529bv.pdf
Page Number: 498.0

529US2

Unit: $U47

[10-04-01 09:34:47] PAGES PGT: OPIN

Cite as: 529 U. S. 420 (2000)

423

Syllabus

and counsel had no reason to believe Stinnett had been married to
Meinhard or been represented by Woodson. Moreover, because state
postconviction relief was no longer available at the time the facts came
to light, it would have been futile for petitioner to return to the Virginia
courts, so that he cannot be said to have failed to develop the facts in
state court by reason of having neglected to pursue remedies available
under Virginia law. The foregoing analysis establishes cause for any
procedural default petitioner may have committed in not presenting
these claims to the Virginia courts in the ﬁrst instance. Questions re-
garding the standard for determining the prejudice that petitioner must
establish to obtain relief on these claims can be addressed by the lower
courts during further proceedings. These courts should take due ac-
count of the District Court’s earlier decision to grant an evidentiary
hearing based in part on its belief that Stinnett deliberately lied on voir
dire. Pp. 440–444.

189 F. 3d 421, afﬁrmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded.

Kennedy, J., delivered the opinion for a unanimous Court.

John H. Blume argued the cause for petitioner. With him
on the briefs were Keir M. Weyble, Barbara L. Hartung,
by appointment of the Court, 528 U. S. 1044, and James
E. Moore.

Donald R. Curry, Senior Assistant Attorney General of
Virginia, argued the cause for respondent. With him on the
brief was Mark L. Earley, Attorney General.*

*A brief of amici curiae urging afﬁrmance was ﬁled for the State of
California et al. by Bill Lockyer, Attorney General of California, David P.
Druliner, Chief Assistant Attorney General, John R. Gorey, Acting Senior
Assistant Attorney General, and Donald E. De Nicola, Deputy Attorney
General, and by the Attorneys General for their respective States as fol-
lows: Bill Pryor of Alabama, Janet Napolitano of Arizona, Mark Pryor of
Arkansas, M. Jane Brady of Delaware, Robert A. Butterworth of Florida,
Thurbert E. Baker of Georgia, James E. Ryan of Illinois, Jeffrey A. Modi-
sett of Indiana, J. Joseph Curran, Jr., of Maryland, Thomas F. Reilly of
Massachusetts, Jeremiah W. (Jay) Nixon of Missouri, Joseph P. Mazurek
of Montana, Don Stenberg of Nebraska, Frankie Sue Del Papa of Ne-
vada, Michael F. Easley of North Carolina, W. A. Drew Edmondson of
Oklahoma, Hardy Myers of Oregon, D. Michael Fisher of Pennsylvania,
Charles M. Condon of South Carolina, Mark Barnett of South Dakota,