Hearing Ordered for Capital Habeas Petitioner Troy Davis on Innocence Claim

In Re Davis, 2009 WL 2486475 (8/17/09) - An order that was unusual for two reasons: (1) it was issued in the summer; and (2) it dealt with an original habeas filing, which for almost 50 years the tens of thousands of such petitions have always resulted in summary denials. The Court (Stevens, Ginsburg and Breyer plus at least two of Kennedy, Alito and Roberts) (Sotomayor did not vote) transferred the famous Troy Davis case to the Georgia federal district court to "receive testimony and make findings of fact as to whether evidence that could not have been obtained at the time of trial clearly establishes petitioner's innocence." The Court did not explain the ruling any further. Stevens, joined by Ginsburg and Breyer explained in a concurrence that the petitioner might be entitled to relief, despite AEDPA's stringent standards, because (a) it might be unconstitutional to prohibit relief for a capital defendant who has proven himself to be actually innocent; (b) maybe AEDPA doesn't apply to original habeas petitions in the S. Ct.; and (c) AEDPA might have an exception for actual innocence claims. Stevens pointed out that so far no court had conducted a hearing to assess the reliability of the seven prosecution witnesses who have recanted and the witnesses who point to the state's principal witness as the shooter. In dissent, Scalia, joined by Thomas, doesn't see the point of the transfer because the petitioner could not be entitled to relief. You can only get relief under AEDPA based on "clearly established" S. Ct. law and the S. Ct. has never said you can get relief based on actual innocence. And, besides, courts and parole boards have already looked at the new evidence and have turned Mr. Davis down.

And, Sotomayor is now the Justice for matters coming out of the Tenth Circuit.