Court Opinion

ID: 9489804
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 13:24:44.930854+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:53:43.705575
License: Public Domain

K.K. HALL, Circuit Judge,
concurring in part and dissenting in part:
I join in the court’s decision to extend the stay of our mandate though November 29, 1996, although I believe that our doing so is of little consequence. The district court’s order denying the petitioner habeas relief remains in effect, even without our imprimatur; thus, there is currently no legal impediment to the Commonwealth’s impending execution of the petitioner.
I respectfully dissent, however, from the majority’s denial of the petitioner’s motion to stay his execution pending his application for a writ of certiorari. As one may easily discern from reading the published opinions concerning the underlying matter, my views regarding the rule announced in Cuyler v. Sullivan, 446 U.S. 335, 100 S.Ct. 1708, 64 L.Ed.2d 333 (1980), stand in stark contrast to those of the majority. I conclude that a reasonable probability exists that at least four Justices would vote to grant certiorari, inasmuch as the Court may be persuaded that, by agreeing to consider the merits of the petitioner’s claim, it would have the opportunity to clarify its existing precedent.
And the merits of the petitioner’s claim are substantial, perhaps even unusually so. There is, in my view, a significant possibility that Court will reverse our judgment in this case. Finally, there is no disputing the irreparable harm that will be done to the petitioner should his execution not be stayed. Because I believe that the three criteria of Barefoot v. Estelle, 463 U.S. 880, 895, 103 S.Ct. 3383, 3395-3396, 77 L.Ed.2d 1090 (1983), have been met in this case, I would grant the petitioner’s motion to stay his execution.