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Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 2244', '§ 2244', '§ 2254', '§ 2244', '§ 2244', '§ 2244', '§ 2244', '§ 2244']

SCHLUP v. DELO, SUPERINTENDENT, POTOSI CORRECTIONAL CENTER - US SUPREME COURT DECISIONS ON-LINE
US Supreme Court Decisions - On-Line> Volume 513 > SCHLUP v. DELO, SUPERINTENDENT, POTOSI CORRECTIONAL CENTER
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(b) The societal interests in finality, comity, and conservation of scarce judicial resources dictate that a habeas court may not ordinarily reach the merits of successive or abusive claims, absent a showing of causecralaw
(d) To satisfy Carrier's "actual innocence" standard, a petitioner must show that, in light of the new evidence, it is more likely than not that no reasonable juror would have found him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. The focus on actual innocence means that a district court is not bound by the admissibility rules that would govern at trial, but may consider the probative force of relevant evidence that was either wrongly excluded or unavailable at trial. The district court must make a probabilistic determination about what reasonable, properly instructed jurors would do, and it is presumed that a reasonable jurorcralaw
STEVENS, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which O'CONNOR, SOUTER, GINSBURG, and BREYER, JJ., joined. O'CONNOR, J., filed a concurring opinion, post, p. 332. REHNQUIST, C.J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which KENNEDY and THOMAS, JJ., joined, post, p. 334. SCALIA, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which THOMAS, J., joined, post, p. 342.
*Briefs of amici curiae urging affirmance were filed for the State of California et al. by Daniel E. Lungren, Attorney General of California, George Williamson, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Dane R. Gillette, Deputy Attorney General, and Mark L. Krotoski, Special Assistant Attorney General, James H. Evans, Attorney General of Alabama, Bruce M. Botelho, Attorney General of Alaska, Grant Woods, Attorney General of Arizona, Gale A. Norton, Attorney General of Colorado, John M. Bailey, Chief State's Attorney of Connecticut, Charles M. Oberly III, Attorney General of Delaware, Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General of Florida, Larry EchoHawk, Attorney General of Idaho, Roland W Burris, Attorney General of Illinois, Chris Gorman, Attorney General of Kentucky, Richard p. Ieyoub, Attorney General of Louisiana, Mike Moore, Attorney General of Mississippi, Joseph P. Mazurek, Attorney General of Montana, Doncralaw
Harold R. Tyler, Jr., and Eric M. Freedman filed a brief of amici curiae for Five Innocent Former Death Row Inmates et al.cralaw
2 In contrast, the evidence of the involvement of Stewart and O'Neal in Dade's murder was substantial. Stewart, for example, was apprehendedcralaw
4 Mter stabbing Dade, O'Neal broke a window with his hand and threw the knife out the window. That resulted in multiple lacerations to his right hand. Before leaving the prison floor, O'Neal paused briefly at a utilities sink on Walk 2 to try to wash off the blood, and then continued on to the dining room.
5 Schlup's cell was at the end of Walk 2, closest to the dining room.cralaw
7Id., at 243. 8Id., at 245.cralaw
12 The other alleged participants in the crime were convicted in earlier, separate trials. O'Neal, who did the stabbing, was sentenced to death, see State v. O'Neal, 718 S. W. 2d 498 (Mo. 1986); Stewart, who was apprehended by Flowers at the scene, was sentenced to 50 years' imprisonmentcralaw
16 The Court of Appeals also addressed Schlup's other claims. Over Judge Heaney's dissent, the court rejected Schlup's claim that his counsel had been ineffective for failing to adduce available mitigating evidence at the penalty hearing. Schlup v. Armontrout, 941 F. 2d, at 639. The courtcralaw
also rejected Schlup's separate claim challenging the denial of his request for an evidentiary hearing in the District Court. Schlup had requested such a hearing to develop evidence so that he could in turn challenge the failure of the state court to grant his request for a continuance of his state postconviction proceedings. Schlup had requested that continuance to obtain additional evidence to support his claim of innocence. The Court of Appeals held that Schlup's challenge to the state court's failure to grant a continuance was not cognizable in a federal habeas corpus action. Id., at 642.cralaw
18 In the District Court, Schlup attempted to supplement the record with several detailed affidavits from inmates attesting to his innocence. For example, Lamont Griffin Bey, a black inmate, submitted an affidavit in which he stated: "The first thing I saw of the fight was Rodney [sic] Stewart throw liquid in Arthur Dade's face, and O'Neal stab him .... I knew Lloyd Schlup at that time, but we were not friends. Lloyd Schlup was not present at the scene of the fight." Affidavit of Lamont Griffin Bey, pp. 2-3 (Apr. 7, 1993). Griffin Bey also stated: ''When this happened, there was a lot of racial tension in the prison .... I would not stick my neck out to help a white person under these circumstances normally, butcralaw
19 The District Court focused primarily on the "suspect" nature of affidavits that are produced after a long delay, cf. Herrera v. Collins, 506 U. S. 390, 423-424 (1993) (O'CONNOR, J., concurring), and that come from inmates. The court concluded that the affidavits presented by Schlup, when considered against the positive identifications made by Flowers and Maylee, failed to constitute a sufficiently persuasive showing of actual innocence. App.79.cralaw
Green continued: "If I had been contacted before Schlup's trial, I would have told his attorney that he was not there when Dade was stabbed, and I would have testified that I called base within seconds after Dade hit the ground. I might have been reluctant to snitch on Jordan and O'Neal. I'm not afraid now because I haven't been in prison for more than 71/2 years, and I have been working steadily ever since. I have no intention of going back to prison." Id., at 6.cralaw
24Id., at *5.cralaw
25 Faherty had testified at Schlup's trial, but he had not been asked about the significant details of his encounter with Schlup that are recited in his affidavit. Faherty Affidavit' 9 (Oct. 26, 1993). Faherty left the Department of Corrections in 1989. He stated in his affidavit that he had been prompted to come forward after hearing about Schlup's case through an article in the local newspaper. Id.,' 11.cralaw
27 Though the Court of Appeals denied Schlup's motion for a stay of execution, the Governor of Missouri granted a stay one day before Schlup's execution date. The Governor then ordered a Board of Inquiry to conduct clemency proceedings. Those proceedings are apparently continuing.cralaw
29 Schlup argued in the District Court that the lack of diligence of his appointed postconviction counsel, coupled with problems created by the State, established cause and prejudice. See App. 38-43 (state postconviction proceedings); id., at 43-45 (proceedings on first federal habeas). That argument was rejected by the District Court and the Court of Appeals, and petitioner does not renew it in this Court.cralaw
31 In his submissions to the federal courts, Schlup has consistently argued that his execution would violate the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments because he is actually innocent. That Herrera claim was rejected in the District Court and in the Court of Appeals. In the dissent from the denial of rehearing en banc, three judges stated that they were persuaded by Judge Heaney's dissent that there was "at least a substantial likelihood" that Schlup could meet even the extraordinarily high showing required by Herrera. We denied certiorari on Schlup's Herrera claim, and accordingly we express no opinion as to its merits.cralaw
32 In Herrera, it was not necessary to determine the appropriate standard of review because petitioner had failed to make "a truly persuasive demonstration of 'actual innocence'" under any reasonable standard.cralaw
33 As this Court noted in Wainwright v. Sykes, there have been "divergent discussions of the historic role of federal habeas corpus." 433 U. S., at 77, n. 6. One recent commentator has offered a new perspective on the history of the writ. See Liebman, Apocalypse Next Time?: The Anachronistic Attack on Habeas Corpus/Direct Review Parity, 92 Colum. L. Rev. 1997 (1992).cralaw
34 A "'successive petition' raises grounds identical to those raised and rejected on the merits on a prior petition." Kuhlmann v. Wilson, 477 U. S., at 444, n. 6 (plurality opinion). An "abusive petition" occurs "where a prisoner files a petition raising grounds that were available but not relied upon in a prior petition, or engages in other conduct that 'disentitle[s] himcralaw
35 This Court has repeatedly noted the interplay between statutory language and judicially managed equitable considerations in the development of habeas corpus jurisprudence. For example, in McCleskey, the Court noted that the doctrine of abuse of the writ of habeas corpus "refers to a complex and evolving body of equitable principles informed and controlled by historical usage, statutory developments, and judicial decisions." 499 U. S., at 489. Similarly, in Wainwright v. Sykes, the Court noted its "historic willingness to overturn or modify its earlier views of the scope of the writ, even where the statutory language authorizing judicial action has remained unchanged." 433 U. S., at 81; see also Kuhlmann, 477 U. S., at 446-447 (explaining that the Court has both expanded and limited the scope of the writ); Brecht v. Abrahamson, 507 U. S. 619, 633 (1993) ("We have filled the gaps of the habeas corpus statute with respect to other matters").cralaw
We firmly established the importance of the equitable inquiry required by the ends of justice in "a trio of 1986 decisions" handed down on the same day. Sawyer, 505 U. S., at 339 (referring to Kuhlmann v. Wilson, 477 U. S. 436, Murray v. Carrier, 477 U. S. 478, and Smith v. Murray, 477 U. S. 527). In Kuhlmann, seven Members of this Court squarely rejected the argument that in light of the 1966 amendments, "federal courts no longer must consider the 'ends of justice' before dismissing a successive petition." 477 U. S., at 451 (plurality opinion); id., at 468-471 (Brennan, J., dissenting); id., at 476-477 (STEVENS, J., dissenting); see also Sawyer, 505 U. S., at 339 (noting that in Kuhlmann, "[w]e held that despite the removal of [the reference to the ends of justice] from 28 U. S. C. § 2244(b) in 1966, the miscarriage of justice exception would allow successive claims to be heard"). Thus, while recognizing that successive petitions are generally precluded from review, Justice Powell's plurality opinion expressly noted that there are "limited circumstances under which the interests of the prisoner in relitigating constitutional claims held meritless on a prior petition may outweigh the countervailing interests served by according finality to the prior judgment." 477 U. S., at 452. Similarly, writing for the Court in Carrier, JUSTICE O'CONNOR observed that the Court had adopted the cause and prejudice standard in part because of its confidence that that standard would provide adequate protection to "'victims of a fundamental miscarriage of justice,'" 477 U. S., at 495-496, quoting Engle v. Isaac, 456 U. S. 107, 135 (1982); however, JUSTICE O'CONNOR also noted that the Court has candidly refused to "pretend that this will always be true," Carrier, 477 U. S., at 496. For that reason, "'[i]n appropriate cases,' the principles of comity and finality that inform the concepts of cause and prejudice 'must yield to the imperative of correcting a fund a-cralaw
36 Indeed, neither party called our attention to any decision from a Court of Appeals in which a petitioner had satisfied any definition of actual innocence. Though some such decisions exist, see, e. g., Henderson v. Sargent, 926 F.2d 706, 713-714 (CA8), reaff'd in relevant part on rehearing, 939 F.2d 586 (CA8 1991), cert. denied, 502 U. S. 1050 (1992); Bliss v. Lockhart,cralaw
37 Friendly, Is Innocence Irrelevant? Collateral Attack on Criminal Judgments, 38 U. Chi. L. Rev. 142, 145 (1970).cralaw
39 See infra, at 331.cralaw
40 Steiker, Innocence and Federal Habeas, 41 UCLA L. Rev. 303, 377 (1993); see also id., at 377, n. 370 (collecting cases).cralaw
Mississippi, 494 U. S. 738, 750, n. 4 (1990); Booth v. Maryland, 482 U. S. 496,509, n. 12 (1987); Solem v. Helm, 463 U. S. 277, 294 (1983); Gardner v. Florida, 430 U. S. 349, 357-358 (1977) (plurality opinion); Woodson v. North Carolina, 428 U. S. 280, 303-304, 305 (1976) (plurality opinion of Stewart, Powell, and STEVENS, JJ.).cralaw
44 Nor do we believe that confining Sawyer's more rigorous standard to claims involving eligibility for the sentence of death is anomalous. Our recognition of the significant difference between the injustice that results from an erroneous conviction and the injustice that results from an erroneous sentence is reflected in our decisions that permit reduced procedural protections at sentencing. See, e. g., Williams v. New York, 337 U. S. 241 (1949).cralaw
45 See Strickland v. Washington, 466 U. S. 668, 694 (1984); United States v. Bagley, 473 U. S. 667, 682 (1985) (Blaclrmun, J.); id., at 685 (White, J., concurring).cralaw
As we have explained, supra, at 313-317, Schlup's claim of innocence is fundamentally different from the claim advanced in Herrera. The standard that we apply today, therefore, will not foreclose the application of factual innocence to the analysis of such claims.cralaw
Nor do we accept THE CHIEF JUSTICE'S description of the Carrier standard as a "hybrid." Post, at 339. Finders of fact are often called upon to make predictions about the likely actions of hypothetical "reasonable" actors. Thus, the application of "more likely than not" to the habeas court's assessment of the actions of reasonable jurors is neither illogical nor unusual.cralaw
49 The "clear and convincing" standard adopted in Sawyer reflects this same understanding of the relevant inquiry.cralaw
In this case, the application of the Carrier standard arises in the context of a request for an evidentiary hearing. In applying the Carrier standard to such a request, the Districtcralaw
The Court holds that, in order to have an abusive or successive habeas claim heard on the merits, a petitioner who cannot demonstrate cause and prejudice "must show that it is more likely than not that no reasonable juror would have convicted him" in light of newly discovered evidence of innocence. Ante, at 327. This standard iscralaw
Moreover, the Court does not, and need not, decide whether the fundamental miscarriage of justice exception is a discretionary remedy. It is a paradigmatic abuse of discretion for a court to base its judgment on an erroneous view of the law. See Cooter & Gell v. Hartmarx Corp., 496 U. S. 384, 405 (1990). Having decided that the district court committed legal error, and thus abused its discretion, by relying on Sawyer v. Whitley, 505 U. S. 333 (1992), instead of Murray v. Carrier, supra, the Court need not decide the question-neither argued by the parties nor passed upon by the Court of Appeals-whether abuse of discretion is the proper standard of review. In reversing the judgment of the Courtcralaw
On February 3, 1984, three white inmates attacked and killed a black inmate named Arthur Dade. At trial, testimony by Sergeant Roger Flowers and Officer John Maylee indicated that inmate Rodnie Stewart threw a container of steaming liquid into Dade's face, petitioner jumped on Dade's back rendering him defenseless, and inmate Robert O'Neal proceeded to stab Dade to death. Petitioner's trial counsel attempted to discredit both eyewitness identifications. As to Sergeant Flowers, counsel argued that Flowers had brought a visitor into petitioner's cell less than an hour before the stabbing, and, therefore, Flowers had Schlup "on the brain." Trial Tr. 493-494. Trial counsel attempted to discredit Officer Maylee's identification by arguing that Maylee was too far from the scene to properly view the incident. Through discovery, petitioner's trial counsel uncovered a videotape in which petitioner is the first inmate to enter the cafeteria. One minute and five seconds after petitionercralaw
On appeal, the Missouri Supreme Court affirmed petitioner's conviction and death sentence. Petitioner then filed state collateral proceedings claiming, among other things, that his trial counsel was ineffective for failing to present additional alibi witnesses and for failing to investigate fully the circumstances of the murder. The Missouri Circuit Court determined that petitioner's counsel provided effective assistance of counsel. The Missouri Supreme Court affirmed the denial of postconviction relief.cralaw
3 On the day of the incident Green told prison investigators that he had not observed the murder. At Stewart's trial, while under oath, Green testified that he saw no actual fight take place and made no mention of his call to base. App. 140. Green now also swears that he "called base ... within seconds of Dade hitting the ground." Id., at 123.cralaw
4 One problem with this theory is that O'Neal, an undisputed participant in the murder, entered the cafeteria 26 seconds after the guards responded to the distress call. As respondent explained at oral argument: "[I]f you believe that [Green] radioed in immediately upon the time of the body falling ... then you look at the videotape, and there is only 26 seconds between the time that that call was supposedly made by Green and the time that O'Neal comes into the cafeteria downstairs, and all of the evidence in this case shows it's impossible for O'Neal, the admitted murderer ... to have run down, ... broken a window, thrown the knife out the window, come back, washed his hands ... and go[ne] down to the cafeteria, if you hold Green's present statement as controlling, the murder never occurred." Tr. of Oral Arg. 30-31 (emphasis added). Thus, as the Court acknowledges, ante, at 308, n. 17, there was a delay between the time of the murder and the time that the guards in the cafeteria responded to the distress call.cralaw
5 The Court explicitly rejected the contention that "cause need not be shown if actual prejudice is shown," even where the constitutional claims "call[ed] into question the reliability of an adjudication of legal guilt." 477 U. S., at 495 (emphasis added); see also Engle v. Isaac, 456 U. S. 107, 129 (1982).cralaw
As the Court notes, to satisfy Carrier a habeas petitioner must demonstrate that" 'a constitutional violation has probably resulted in the conviction of one who is actually innocent.'" Ante, at 327 (quoting Carrier, supra, at 496). The Court informs us that a showing of "actual innocence" requires a habeas petitioner to "show that it is more likely than not that no reasonable juror would have convicted him in the light of the new evidence." Ante, at 327. But this is a classic mixing of apples and oranges. "More likely than not" is a quintessential charge to a finder of fact, while "no reasonable juror would have convicted him in the light of the new evidence" is an equally quintessential conclusion of law similar to the standard that courts constantly employ in deciding motions for judgment of acquittal in criminal cases. The hybrid which the Court serves up is bound to be a source of confusion. Because new evidence not presented at trial will almost always be involved in these claims of actual innocence, the legal standard for judgment of acquittal cannotcralaw
The Court fails to acknowledge expressly the similarities between the standard it has adopted and the Jackson standard. A habeas court reviewing a claim of actual innocence does not write on a clean slate. Cf. Barefoot v. Estelle, 463 U. S. 880, 887 (1983) ("Federal courts are not forums in which to relitigate state trials"); Herrera v. Collins, 506 U. S. 390, 416 (1993) ("[I]n state criminal proceedings the trial is the paramount event for determining the guilt or innocence of the defendant"); Wainwright v. Sykes, 433 U. S. 72, 90 (1977) ("Society's resources have been concentrated at [the state trial] in order to decide, within the limits of human fallibility, the question of guilt or innocence of one of its citizens"). Therefore, as the Court acknowledges, a petitioner making a claim of actual innocence under Carrier falls short of satisfying his burden if the reviewing court determines that any juror reasonably would have found petitioner guilty of the crime. See ante, at 329; cf. Jackson, supra, at 318-319.cralaw
But in the highly unusual case where the district court believes on the basis of written submissions that the necessary showing of "actual innocence" may be made out, it should conduct a limited evidentiary hearing at which the affiants whose testimony the court believes to be crucial to the showing of actual innocence are present and may be cross-examined as to veracity, reliability, and all of the othercralaw
A federal statute entitled "Finality of Determination" -to be found at § 2244 of Title 28 of the United States Code-cralaw
1 The claim that "the Court does not, and need not, decide whether the fundamental miscarriage of justice exception is a discretionary remedy," ante, at 333 (O'CONNOR, J., concurring), is not in my view an accurate description of what the Court's opinion says. Of course the concurrence's merely making the claim causes it to be an accurate description of what the Court today holds, since the narrower ground taken by one of the Justices comprising a five-Justice majority becomes the law. Marks v. United States, 430 U. S. 188, 193 (1977).cralaw
This provision was construed in Sanders v. United States, 373 U. S. 1 (1963), and (with unimpeachable logic) was held to mean that "[c]ontrolling weight may be given to denial of a prior application for federal habeas corpus [under 28 U. S. C. § 2254] only if (1) the same ground presented in the subsequent application was determined adversely to the applicant on the prior application, (2) the prior determination was oncralaw
Yet when the new version of § 2244(b) was first construed, in Kuhlmann v. Wilson, 477 U. S. 436 (1986), a plurality of the Court announced that it would "continue to rely on thecralaw
And if reasons are to be given, justification of the Kuhlmann opinion will be found difficult indeed. The plurality's central theory is that "the permissive language of § 2244(b) gives federal courts discretion to entertain successive petitions under some circumstances," so that "[u]nless [the] 'rare instances' [in which successive petitions will be entertained] are to be identified by whim or caprice, district judges must be given guidance for determining when to exercise the limited discretion granted them by § 2244(b)." See 477 U. S., at 451. What the plurality then proceeds to do, however, is not to "guide" the discretion, but to eliminate it entirely, dividing the entire universe of successive and abusive petitions into those that must not be entertained (where there is no showing of innocence) and those that must be entertained (wherecralaw
2 The present case does not, of course, present the question whether the Kuhlmann plurality was wrong to identify a category of petitions that must not be entertained-a disposition that is at least compatible with the text of § 2244(b).cralaw
Of course the latter cases provide as much or as little authority for the right reading of the statute as the former provide for the wrong reading. The truth is that there is simply nothing in this scattering of phrases, this handful of silences and assumptions, by which even the conscience most scrupulous in matters of stare decisis could count itself bound either way; for in no case after Kuhlmann has the question whether § 2244(b) creates an obligation to entertain successive or abusive petitions been necessary to the decision. In both Sawyer and McCleskey the Court affirmed the judgments of lower courts that had dismissed the petition. See Sawyer, supra, at 338; McCleskey, supra, at 503. Those decisions could not, and did not, announce as acralaw
There is thus no route of escape from the Court's duty to confront the statute today. I would say, as the statute does, that habeas courts need not entertain successive or abusive petitions. The courts whose decisions we review declined to entertain the petition, and I find no abuse of discretion in the record. (I agree with THE CHIEF JUSTICE that they were correct to use Sawyer v. Whitley, supra, as the legal standard for determining claims of actual innocence. Seecralaw