Welcome to the Habeas Handbook Blog. It is a natural extension of our print publication, California Habeas Handbook 2.0. The print publication explains in detail how to prepare, file, defend,…
Discovery on Federal Habeas After Pinholster: An Exercise in Futility? After you have filed your petition in federal court and the government has responded, the record the district court will…
Habeas Hint: SCOTUS equated the client’s right to maintain innocence with other rights that are so fundamental that only the defendant personally can waive them, e.g., the right to plead…
One of the major advantages of ineffective assistance of counsel (IAC) claims on habeas corpus is that they are usually the most reliable way to bring new evidence before the…
Part Two Harrington v. Richter, 131 S.Ct. 770 (2011) Cullen v. Pinholster, 131 S.Ct. 1388 (2011) In “Richter”, the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) made ineffective assistance of counsel (“IAC”)…
Part One Harrington v. Richter, 131 S.Ct. 770 (2011) Cullen v. Pinholster, 131 S.Ct. 1388 (2011) In “Richter” and “Pinholster”, the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) dealt body blows to…
Understanding and Satisfying the Strickland Test for IAC. The landmark case of Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984), establishes that ineffective assistance of counsel (“IAC”) claims require two showings:…
Most IAC claims are made against trial counsel, which is the focus of this column. Simply stated, IAC has two elements: (1) Deficient Performance; and (2) Prejudice. A lawyer performs…
Procedural Default (Acknowledging and Avoiding the Kiss of Death). Federal courts generally refuse to hear claims that were defaulted in state court because of an “independent and adequate state procedural…
No Facts: When No means Yes...Not so long ago, in a bleak turn of events for habeas petitioners, the U.S. Supreme Court held that where a state court's decision on…
