Not justice, just the law...
May. 4th, 2004 10:57 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
winterbadgerWASHINGTON — The Supreme Court refused Monday to free a Texas man who has served more than six years in prison for stealing a calculator from a Wal-Mart, even though state prosecutors admitted his crime called for a maximum of two years behind bars.
In a 6-3 decision, the justices said simple claims of injustice or "actual innocence" were usually not the basis for appeals in federal courts. To win in a federal court, defendants must show a "constitutional error" in the handling of their cases, they said.
But the three dissenters criticized their colleagues for ignoring "simple justice" in favor of procedural technicalities.
The high court reversed the orders that had freed Michael Haley, and it sent his case back to Texas for other judges to consider whether his mistaken prison sentence was his lawyer's fault.
from the LA Times
In a 6-3 decision, the justices said simple claims of injustice or "actual innocence" were usually not the basis for appeals in federal courts. To win in a federal court, defendants must show a "constitutional error" in the handling of their cases, they said.
But the three dissenters criticized their colleagues for ignoring "simple justice" in favor of procedural technicalities.
The high court reversed the orders that had freed Michael Haley, and it sent his case back to Texas for other judges to consider whether his mistaken prison sentence was his lawyer's fault.
from the LA Times
