Class 5: Appellate and Post-Conviction Review

This session examines the appellate and post-conviction review process once a person has been sentenced to death at a trial. It describes the various stages of the process as well as limits on review, procedural obstacles to consideration of issues, burdens of proof, standards of review, when cases must be reversed because of errors, and when even a constitutional violation may be found to be “harmless error” so that a conviction and death sentence may be upheld despite it.

Readings:

Appellate and Post-Conviction Review (PDF), including:

  • Waiver; Adequate and Independent State Grounds
    • The Cases of Aubry Williams and James Avery
    • Williams v. Georgia, 349 U.S. 375 (1955)
    • Williams v. State, 88 S.E.2d 376 (Ga. 1955)
    • Pressures on the Court
    • Waiver and Arbitrariness
  • The Once Great Writ of Habeas Corpus
    • Fay v. Noia, 372 U.S. 391 (1963)
    • Townsend v. Sain, 372 U.S. 293 (1963)
  • Procedural Default
    • Wainwright v. Sykes, 433 U.S. 72 (1977)
    • Murray v. Carrier, 477 U.S. 478 (1986), and Smith v. Murray, 477 U.S. 527 (1986)
    • Coleman v. Thompson, 501 U.S. 722 (1991)
    • Bowles v. Russell, 551 U.S. 205 (2007)
    • Plain Error Cause and Prejudice, and Miscarriage of Justice
  • Exhaustion of State Remedies
    • Anderson v. Harless, 459 U.S. 4 (1982)
    • Statutory Provisions Regarding Exhaustion
  • The Habeas Corpus Statutes as Amended by the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act
    • Williams (Terry) v. Taylor, 529 U.S. 362 (2000)
    • Bell v. Cone, 543 U.S. 447 (2005)
    • Law and Facts at the Time of the State Court Decision: Cullen v. Pinholster, 131 S.Ct. 1388 (2011) and Greene v. Fisher, 132 S.Ct. 38 (2011)
    • Statute of Limitations and Equitable Tolling
      • Lawrence v. Florida, 549 U.S. 327 (2007)
      • Holland v. Florida, 130 S.Ct. 2549 (2010)
    • Federal Habeas Corpus Flow Chart
  • Legal Standards and Burdens of Production and Proof

 

Lecture:

 

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