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Magwood v. Patterson

By Steve Hall

The Supreme Court issued its ruling in Magwood v. Patterson this morning.  The opinion is in Adobe .pdf format.  The ScotusWiki file is here.SCOTUS Blog reports, "Court rules in favor of capital defendant in Magwood v. Patterson."  It's written by Kevin Russell.Federal habeas law generally allows prisoners to bring a single habeas petition; ?second and successive? petitions are highly disfavored and must meet very strict criteria.  This morning, the Court held in Magwood v. Patterson (No. 09-158), that when a criminal defendant succeeds in having his original sentence overturned, a later habeas petition challenging his new sentence should be treated as a first petition (not as a ?second or successive? petition), even if it raises grounds that could have (but were not) made against the original sentence...continue to full post

Full post as published by StandDown Texas Project on June 24, 2010 (boomark / email).