| Venue: | SCOTUS |
| Facts: | Horrible robbery and murder. The prosecution maybe failed to disclose a report of a pre-trial psychiatric evaliation, and also failed to disclose knowledge of a juror's possible bias. |
| Posture: | Convicted on all counts, and sentenced to death. Affirmed by VA SC. Cert denied by SCOTUS. Here comes state habeas, dismissed, and again cert denied. Now federal habeas. District court granted an evidentiary hearing. Ct. App. stays the proceeding and remands for consideration of the statute; district court dismisses the petition, and Ct. App. affirms. Cert granted this time around. |
| Issue: | Does AEDPA § 2254(e)(2) bar Williams from getting an evidentiary hearing? |
| Holding: | No, reversed in part and affirmed in part. |
| Rule: | You can't get an evidentiary hearing if you've failed to develop the factual record at trial. |
| Reasoning: | We interpret "fail" to mean that the record wasn't developed due
to a lack of diligence, not to mean simply that the record doesn't
exist through no fault of your own.
In the case of the psychiatric evaluation, there was a lack of diligence. Not so with the juror stuff, though: there's no reasonable way Williams could have found that out. So he's not barred from an evidentiary hearing on this point due to failure to develop the record. |
| Dicta: | |