Divided court restricts prisoners' ability to pursue claims that their lawyers were incompetent

[John Dillinger]

<https://scotusblog.com>
Divided court restricts prisoners' ability to pursue claims that their
lawyers were incompetent
noam-biale

SCOTUS NEWS

on May 23, 2022 at 12:40 pm

Two men on Arizona's death row are not entitled to present new
evidence in federal court to support their arguments that their trial
lawyers bungled their cases, the Supreme Court ruled Monday in a 6-3
decision.

The question in Shinn v. Ramirez and Jones was whether state prisoners
challenging their convictions and sentences in federal court could
develop evidence in the federal proceeding to support claims that
their state trial lawyers were ineffective to such a degree that the
prisoners' Sixth Amendment right to counsel was compromised. The case
pitted the language of the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty
Act of 1996, which generally prohibits federal courts from holding an
evidentiary hearing on these kinds of claims if the prisoner "has
failed to develop the factual basis of a claim in State court
proceedings," against a 2012 Supreme Court decision, Martinez v. Ryan,
which held that prisoners can raise a claim of ineffective assistance
of counsel for the first time in federal court.

David Martinez Ramirez and Barry Lee Jones, both of whom were
sentenced to death in Arizona, argued that rigid application of the
statute would lead to the absurd result of prisoners being able to
raise a claim, but not to develop any evidence to support it,
undermining the rationale of Martinez. Arizona argued that where a
decision of the court and a congressional statute conflict, the tie
must go to Congress.

In an opinion by Justice Clarence Thomas, the court sided with
Arizona.

"[O]nly rarely may a federal habeas court hear a claim or consider
evidence that a prisoner did not previously present to the state
courts in compliance with state procedural rules," Thomas wrote. And
in this case, he concluded, Section 2254(e)(2) forecloses the
prisoners' efforts to introduce new evidence outside the state-court
record.

The three liberal justices dissented.

"The Court's decision," Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote for the trio,
"will leave many people who were convicted in violation of the Sixth
Amendment to face incarceration or even execution without any
meaningful chance to vindicate their right to counsel."

Recommended Citation: Noam Biale, Divided court restricts prisoners'
ability to pursue claims that their lawyers were incompetent,
SCOTUSblog (May. 23, 2022, 12:40 PM),
<https://www.scotusblog.com/2022/05/divided-court-restricts-prisoners-ability-to-pursue-claims-that-their-lawyers-were-incompetent/>

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[Siri Cruise]

In article <t6ggsg$asc$1...@dont-email.me>,

John Dillinger <John.Di...@bankrobber.invalid> wrote:

> In an opinion by Justice Clarence Thomas, the court sided with
> Arizona.

> "The Court's decision," Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote for the trio,
> "will leave many people who were convicted in violation of the Sixth
> Amendment to face incarceration or even execution without any
> meaningful chance to vindicate their right to counsel."

Clarence just had a spontaneous ejactulation.

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