Opinion ID: 1058329
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Griffith v. Kentucky

Text: The answer to this question begins with Griffith v. Kentucky, 479 U.S. 314, 107 S.Ct. 708, 93 L.Ed.2d 649 (1987). In Griffith , the United States Supreme Court held that a new rule for the conduct of criminal prosecutions is to be applied retroactively to all cases ... pending on direct review or not yet final.... Griffith, 479 U.S. at 328, 107 S.Ct. 708. By abrogating the two-prong test of Roberts and reshaping the analysis courts must apply when evaluating the admissibility of evidence under the Confrontation Clause, Crawford announced a new rule within the meaning of Griffith . See Graham v. Collins, 506 U.S. 461, 467, 113 S.Ct. 892, 122 L.Ed.2d 260 (1993) ([T]here can be no dispute that a decision announces a new rule if it expressly overrules a prior decision....); see also State v. Dedman, 136 N.M. 561, 102 P.3d 628, 636 (2004) (recognizing that Crawford announced a new rule); Commonwealth v. Gray, 867 A.2d 560, 574 (Pa.Super.2005) (recognizing that Crawford announced a new rule insofar as it overruled Ohio v. Roberts ). Furthermore, this appeal qualifies as a case pending on direct review at the time Crawford announced the new rule. At first glance, then, Griffith would seem to require us to apply the Crawford rule in this appeal, without regard to whether the issue has been preserved for review. Closer analysis reveals, however, that Griffith mandates plenary retroactive application of new rules to cases pending on direct review only if a defendant has timely raised and properly preserved the issue to which the new rule relates. In mid-1985 the defendants in Griffith petitioned the Supreme Court for certiorari while their convictions were still pending on direct review. Griffith, 479 U.S. at 318, 107 S.Ct. 708. On April 30, 1986, while the Griffith petition was pending, the United States Supreme Court decided Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79, 106 S.Ct. 1712, 90 L.Ed.2d 69 (1986). Griffith, 479 U.S. at 318, 107 S.Ct. 708. In Batson , the Court rejected a portion of the reasoning of Swain v. Alabama, 380 U.S. 202, 85 S.Ct. 824, 13 L.Ed.2d 759 (1965). In particular, the Court rejected Swain to the extent that it had defined a prima facie case in the context of discriminatory selection of the jury venire as requiring proof that the prosecution had in a series of cases repeatedly exercised peremptory challenges to strike black jurors. Batson, 476 U.S. at 96-100, 106 S.Ct. 1712. Abrogating this requirement, the Batson Court concluded that to establish a prima facie case a defendant need only show that the prosecution had used peremptory challenges to strike members of the defendant's race from the venire in the defendant's case. Id. at 93, 96-97, 106 S.Ct. 1712. On June 2, 1986, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in Griffith on the limited issue of whether Batson could be applied retroactively to cases on direct appeal. Griffith, 479 U.S. at 320, 107 S.Ct. 708. In United States v. Johnson, 457 U.S. 537, 102 S.Ct. 2579, 73 L.Ed.2d 202 (1982), partially abrogated by Griffith v. Kentucky, 479 U.S. 314, 107 S.Ct. 708, 93 L.Ed.2d 649 (1987), the Court had held that a new rule of criminal procedure constituting a clear break with past precedent was not to be applied retroactively to cases pending on direct review. Because Batson had been a clear break with Swain, [8] its retroactive application to direct review cases was foreclosed by Johnson. Griffith, 479 U.S. at 326, 107 S.Ct. 708. Notably, each of the Griffith defendants had objected prior to Batson in the trial court to the prosecutor's racially discriminatory exercise of peremptory challenges. Furthermore, the Griffith defendants had preserved their objections at each stage of their direct appeals, even though they clearly had failed to satisfy Swain's prima facie showing requirement. Griffith, 479 U.S. at 316-20, 107 S.Ct. 708 (discussing procedural history of the two cases under review). Not surprisingly, the Griffith defendants lost at every stage because every court applied Swain and held the defense proof of discrimination inadequate. Griffith, 479 U.S. at 316-22, 107 S.Ct. 708. Nonetheless, the Griffith defendants continued to press and to preserve their claims that the prosecutor had exercised peremptory challenges in a racially discriminatory manner. Perseverance paid off for the Griffith defendants when the United States Supreme Court granted their certiorari petitions, discarded Johnson's clear break rule, and applied Batson retroactively to their appeal. Griffith, 479 U.S. at 326-28, 107 S.Ct. 708. Citing fairness considerations for defendants similarly situated to Batson, the Supreme Court reversed the Griffith defendants' convictions. Like the defendant in Batson , the Griffith defendants had properly presented and tenaciously preserved their constitutional challenge at trial and on appeal. Importantly, the Griffith defendants had raised and preserved this issue before the Supreme Court decided Batson , and had done so in the face of controlling precedent unfavorable to their position. Having thus reviewed its factual and procedural background, we conclude that Griffith does not mandate plenary retroactive application of new rules to pending direct review cases without regard to whether the claim of error has been properly preserved. Instead, Griffith simply overruled precedent which had precluded retroactive application of new rules to pending direct review cases. [9] Where, as here, a new rule is announced while a criminal case is pending on direct review, Griffith mandates plenary application of the new rule only if the issue to which the new rule relates has been timely raised and properly preserved. A criminal defendant who has failed to properly preserve the relevant issue is limited to seeking relief via plain error review. Furthermore, even those criminal defendants who properly preserve such issues are not automatically entitled to relief. After the United States Supreme Court concluded in Shea v. Louisiana, 470 U.S. 51, 59, 105 S.Ct. 1065, 84 L.Ed.2d 38 (1985), that the new rule which it had announced in Edwards v. Arizona, 451 U.S. 477, 101 S.Ct. 1880, 68 L.Ed.2d 378 (1981), applied to cases pending on direct review, the Court explained that retroactive application of the new rule was subject, of course, to established principles of waiver, harmless error, and the like. Shea, 470 U.S. at 58 n. 4, 105 S.Ct. 1065. Thus, a defendant may be entitled to plenary appellate review but not be entitled to relief on his claim.