Monday, July 21, 2014

Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals Considers Claim of Juror Bias

The Sixth Circuit overturned a federal district court order denying a habeus corpus peition by a man convicted of murder and sentenced to death and sent the case back to the federal district court to conisder whether to stay and abey the petition while the defendant seeks state court relief.  Cunningham v. Warden filed 6-24-14.  It was discovered that the jury foreperson was acquainted with the families of the victims and considered them to be her clients and that she ultimately would have to face them in the community.  A "holdout" juror testified in a deposition that she felt pressured by this comment.  The lower court judge concluded that she was not presured to convict.

Most of the decision is about criminal procedure in federal court in this type of matter.

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