The U.S. Supreme Court granted cert in the above-styled case today. Oral arguments have been completed for this term of the Court; Bell v. Kelly will be heard in the term that begins in October 2008. Lyle Denniston has this at SCOTUS Blog:
The Court agreed to hear one new case, an appeal by a death row inmate in Virginia, Edward Nathaniel Bell. The Court limited its review to the question of whether federal courts hearing a state prisoner’s habeas case must defer to state court findings even if the state court did not consider the specific evidence at issue. The case is Bell v. Kelly (07-1223). The case will be heard in the Term starting Oct. 6. In a separate order, Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., ordered a delay in Bell’s execution, scheduled for July 24.
Bell’s appeal argued that there is a split in the federal Circuit Courts over the degree of deference to state courts, under federal habeas law, when the evidence was not considered by the state court and arose for the first time in a federal habeas hearing. The evidence in this case dealt with a claim that Bell’s case was harmed by the failure of defense lawyers to offer mitigating evidence on the death penalty issue.
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