Courhouse News Service reports, "SCOTUS Gives 9th Circ. the Reversal It Wanted," by Barbara Leonard. Here's the beginning:
After the 9th Circuit denied a convicted murderer habeas relief to comply with a Supreme Court reversal, the justices quietly reversed again Tuesday.
Tara Sheneva Williams evaded capture for years but was eventually convicted for murder related to her role as getaway driver in a deadly liquor store robbery.
A three-judge panel of 9th Circuit granted her habeas petition in 2011, finding that the trial judge had improperly replaced a juror that he thought was biased. They concluded that the judge's actions could have resulted from the juror's views on the merits of the case.
The U.S. Supreme Court reversed in February 2013, however, after finding that the panel failed to give proper deference to the state court under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA) of 1996, which "sharply limits the circumstances in which a federal court may issue a writ of habeas corpus to a state prisoner whose claim was 'adjudicated on the merits in state court proceedings.'"
The Supreme Court opinion in Williams v. Johnson is available in Adobe .pdf format. Related posts are in the Supreme Court category index.
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