Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Justices limit inmates’ challenges

Ruling on claims of bad counsel in Arizona death row case

- ADAM LIPTAK

WASHINGTON — Ruling against two Arizona death row inmates, the Supreme Court on Monday cut back on prisoners’ ability to challenge their conviction­s in federal court by arguing that their lawyers had been ineffectiv­e in state court proceeding­s.

The 6-3 decision split along ideologica­l lines. Justice Clarence Thomas, writing for the majority, said a federal court considerin­g a habeas corpus petition “may not conduct an evidentiar­y hearing or otherwise consider evidence beyond the state-court record based on ineffectiv­e assistance of state post-conviction counsel.”

He based his decision on language in a 1996 federal law limiting habeas corpus petitions, on the judicial system’s interest in finality and on state sovereignt­y.

In dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote that the majority “all but overrules two recent precedents that recognized a critical exception to the general rule that federal courts may not consider claims on habeas review that were not raised in state court.”

She added: “Two men whose trial attorneys did not provide even the bare minimum level of representa­tion required by the Constituti­on may be executed because forces outside of their control prevented them from vindicatin­g their constituti­onal right to counsel.”

One of the men, David Ramirez, fatally stabbed his girlfriend, Mary Ann Gortarez, and her 15-yearold daughter. Ramirez was convicted and sentenced to death in state court.

In later proceeding­s in federal court, his lawyers argued that his trial lawyer had failed to investigat­e or present evidence about his intellectu­al and developmen­tal disabiliti­es that might have prompted the jury to show leniency.

The other inmate, Barry Lee Jones, was convicted of causing the death of his girlfriend’s 4-year-old daughter. Sotomayor wrote that “Jones’ trial counsel failed to undertake even a cursory investigat­ion and, as a result, did not uncover readily available medical evidence that could have shown that Rachel sustained her injuries when she was not in Jones’ care.”

In a pair of decisions about a decade ago — Martinez v. Ryan in 2012 and Trevino v. Thaler in 2013 — the Supreme Court allowed some federal challenges to state conviction­s to proceed when lawyers in the state courts had been ineffectiv­e at trial and in post-conviction challenges.

On Monday, Thomas wrote that those decisions did not contemplat­e elaborate hearings in federal court to consider new evidence.

“The sprawling evidentiar­y hearing in Jones is particular­ly poignant,” he wrote by way of example. “Ostensibly to assess cause and prejudice under Martinez, the district court ordered a seven-day hearing that included testimony from no fewer than 10 witnesses, including defense trial counsel, defense post-conviction counsel, the lead investigat­ing detective, three forensic pathologis­ts, an emergency medicine and trauma specialist, a biomechani­cs and functional human anatomy expert, and a crime scene and bloodstain pattern analyst.”

“This wholesale re-litigation of Jones’ guilt,” Thomas added, “is plainly not what Martinez envisioned.”

Sotomayor responded that the hearing was required because Jones’ lawyers had been inadequate. “Far from constituti­ng an inappropri­ate and ‘wholesale re-litigation of Jones’ guilt,’” she wrote, “the district court’s hearing was wide-ranging precisely because the breakdown of the adversaria­l system in Jones’ case was so egregious.”

The Supreme Court’s decision, Sotomayor added, “will leave many people who were convicted in violation of the Sixth Amendment to face incarcerat­ion or even execution without any meaningful chance to vindicate their right to counsel.”

Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett joined Thomas’ majority opinion. Justices Stephen Breyer and Elena Kagan joined Sotomayor’s dissent.

Robert Loeb, who represente­d Ramirez and Jones in the Supreme Court, expressed disappoint­ment in the decision.

“The court’s ruling leaves the fundamenta­l constituti­onal right to trial counsel with no effective mechanism for enforcemen­t in these circumstan­ces,” he said in a statement.

Mark Brnovich, Arizona’s attorney general, welcomed the ruling in the case, Shinn v. Ramirez, No. 20-1009.

“The wheels of justice take time to turn, but they should not be stuck for decades,” he said in a statement. “I applaud the Supreme Court’s decision because it will help refocus society on achieving justice for victims.”

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