The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled in Nelson v. Quarterman. The opinions are here., and there is some vigorous writing with a concurrence and dissents. This is a case in which the Supreme Court vacated an earlier ruling by the Fifth Circuit and sent it back. Now the Fifth Circuit, after en banc consideration, has granted habeas relief. At issue was the jury instruction over the consideration of mitigation.
From the opinion:
At the time that Nelson’s conviction became final, the Supreme Court had clearly established that the relevant inquiry is whether there was a reasonable likelihood that the jury would interpret the Texas special issues in a manner that precluded it from fully considering and giving full effect to all of the defendant’s mitigating evidence. For the foregoing reasons, we conclude that there is a reasonable likelihood that the jury was precluded from giving full consideration and full effect to Nelson’s mitigating evidence via the Texas special issues; therefore the state court’s determination that the special issues were constitutional as applied to Nelson’s case was unreasonable. Accordingly, we REVERSE the district court’s denial of habeas relief and REMAND with instructions to grant the writ of habeas corpus.
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