Appendix 13-c Examples of Habeas Claims Based on the Constitution

• Library: A Jailhouse Lawyer's Manual (2020 Edition)

APPENDIX 13-C. Examples of Habeas Claims Based on the Constitution

1) Investigation and Policing: A witness identified you through a police line-up or photograph in which the police were (impermissibly) suggestive,⁴¹⁵ violating your Fourteenth Amendment right to due process.

2) Your Confession: Your confession was obtained involuntarily in violation of your Fourteenth Amendment due process rights.⁴¹⁶ In order to prove that your confession was involuntary, you must prove that your will was overborne (overtaken).⁴¹⁷ Some facts that may support a claim that your will was overborne include threats of physical violence,⁴¹⁸ threats against loved ones,⁴¹⁹ repeated coercive questioning after you indicated that you wanted to stop answering questions,⁴²⁰ fraudulent promises by police,⁴²¹ and other forms of ill treatment.⁴²²

3) Right to Counsel Violations:

(a) You were denied your Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights to counsel. You would claim this if you were denied counsel that the State should have provided counsel because you were indigent (poor);⁴²³ you were denied the opportunity for new counsel when an irreconcilable difference arose between you and your appointed counsel;⁴²⁴ you were denied counsel at arraignment;⁴²⁵ you did not voluntarily, knowingly, and intelligently waive your right to counsel during interrogation or discussions with police officers while in custody;⁴²⁶ or your lawyer provided such poor representation as to amount to ineffective assistance of counsel.⁴²⁷

(b) The trial court unreasonably denied your request to proceed pro se (as your own attorney).⁴²⁸

(c) You were convicted based on information provided by an informant who was "bugged" or who reported jail cell conversations between you and him in violation of the Fifth or Sixth Amendments.⁴²⁹

(d) You were temporarily banned from consulting with your attorney.⁴³⁰

4) Your Competency: You were denied your Fourteenth Amendment right to an examination to determine whether you were competent to stand trial, whether you were competent to waive counsel, or whether you were competent to plead guilty.⁴³¹

5) Your Guilty Plea: Your guilty plea was unconstitutional because you pleaded guilty involuntarily.⁴³²

(a) You pleaded guilty as part of a plea bargain agreement that was broken.⁴³³

(b) You pleaded guilty without understanding the charges against you,⁴³⁴ or language difficulties prevented you from understanding the charges against you.⁴³⁵

(c) You pleaded guilty without understanding the consequences of pleading guilty.⁴³⁶

6) Timing of Conviction and Trial:

(a) The statute of limitations had already run out when you were charged with the offense,⁴³⁷ or you were charged with a federal, non-capital crime more than five years after the crime occurred.⁴³⁸

(b) You were denied your Sixth Amendment right to a speedy trial.⁴³⁹

7) Right to be Free from Self-Incrimination:

(a) You were made to testify before a grand jury in violation of your Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.⁴⁴⁰

(b) After you were promised immunity in exchange for testimony before a grand jury, the grand jury used your testimony against you in violation of your Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.⁴⁴¹

(c) During trial, the prosecutor commented on your post-arrest silence in violation of your Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination;⁴⁴² or the prosecutor made an improper summation.⁴⁴³ (A summation, or closing argument, is the argument made to the jury at the end of a trial.)

(d) Statements that you made at a court-ordered competency hearing before a state-appointed psychologist or psychiatrist were used against you in violation of your Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment rights against self-incrimination.⁴⁴⁴

8) Access-to-Evidence Violations:

(a) The prosecution withheld requested⁴⁴⁵ evidence that could have helped your case, in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment.⁴⁴⁶

(b) The state failed to preserve important evidence in your investigation.⁴⁴⁷

(c) You were denied needed expert assistance at trial in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment.⁴⁴⁸

(d) The prosecution admitted hearsay, or out-of-court statements against you in violation of the Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment,⁴⁴⁹ and the admitted hearsay did not qualify as one of the many exceptions to the hearsay rule.⁴⁵⁰

(9) Witness Violations:

(a) You were denied the right to cross-examine a witness who testified against you.⁴⁵¹

(b) A witness lied on the stand about having been granted leniency from the police in exchange for testifying against you.⁴⁵²

(10) The Jury:

(a) You were denied your Sixth Amendment right to a trial by a fair and impartial jury because you were denied a trial by jury.⁴⁵³

(b) You were tried by a jury of fewer than six members,⁴⁵⁴ or you were convicted by a non-unanimous jury vote.⁴⁵⁵

(c) The community where members of the jury work or live was exposed to inflammatory media accounts about your case.⁴⁵⁶

(d) Members of certain racial, religious, gender, or age-based (the elderly) groups were excluded from the jury pool,⁴⁵⁷ or the prosecutor intentionally used his or her peremptory challenges (peremptory challenges are when the prosecutor or defendant eliminates potential jurors without a reason) to remove members of a particular racial group or gender from the jury.⁴⁵⁸

(e) Members of a distinct class or group, such as blacks or women, were systematically excluded from the grand jury in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment.⁴⁵⁹

(f) The jury instructions⁴⁶⁰ were unconstitutional because they did not tell the jury the prosecution must prove all crucial elements of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt,⁴⁶¹ or the instructions did not tell the jury the prosecution must overcome a presumption of innocence to convict you.⁴⁶²

(g) Evidence was insufficient to sustain the jury's verdict of guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.⁴⁶³

(11) The Judge: The judge was biased against you because he was corrupt and you did not bribe him.⁴⁶⁴

(12) Your Lawyer:

(a) Your lawyer did not represent you effectively at trial.⁴⁶⁵

(b) Your lawyer did not file an appeal although you would have wanted to file one.⁴⁶⁶

(c) Your lawyer did not represent you effectively in your direct appeal (also known as a "first appeal as of right").⁴⁶⁷

(13) The Law and Statutes:

(a) You were convicted under a statute that is unconstitutional.⁴⁶⁸

(b) You received a certain type of punishment, and the law now forbids this type of punishment.⁴⁶⁹

(c) You were convicted for an act that is no longer a crime under the new law.⁴⁷⁰

(d) A state statute cancels your provisional early release credits after you have already earned them.⁴⁷¹

(14) Double Jeopardy:

(a) You were convicted for an act that is no longer a crime under the new law.⁴⁷²

(b) A state statute cancels your provisional early release credits after you have already earned them.⁴⁷³

(c) Your conviction violates your Fifth Amendment right against "double jeopardy" because you were convicted of a crime for which you had already been tried in the same state.⁴⁷⁴

(d) You were convicted in a second trial after your first trial was declared a mistrial in violation of the Fifth Amendment.⁴⁷⁵

(e) You were tried a second time for the same offense after a reviewing court had reversed your earlier conviction on the grounds that the evidence at your first trial was insufficient to support a conviction.⁴⁷⁶

(15) Other Procedural Problems at Trial:

(a) You were denied the right to be present at your trial.⁴⁷⁷

(b) You were prohibited from testifying on your own behalf.⁴⁷⁸

(c) The court in which you were convicted did not have the power to convict you because it did not have jurisdiction.⁴⁷⁹

(d) You were convicted without using a certain procedure that the law now says is necessary to ensure the fundamental fairness of a trial.⁴⁸⁰

(e) An error occurred during trial that made the trial fundamentally unfair in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment.⁴⁸¹

Remember that the above list does not include every possible example. If you think you experienced a violation of your rights not listed above, try to identify what kind of right may have been violated. Look carefully through a criminal procedure handbook in your prison library. Read the amendments to the Constitution carefully. Read many cases, especially cases dealing with a situation like yours. For example, if you were convicted of drug trafficking, read other cases involving drug trafficking. Start by looking at Supreme Court cases because the Supreme Court is the strongest authority on Constitutional rights and how those rights should apply to actual cases. The Supreme Court's decisions are what all the other courts look to when they make their own decisions. If you find a case that deals with something similar to the situation you experienced, then read the cases the court relies on to determine whether something was a violation or not. Shepardize⁴⁸² the case to find lower court decisions in your district that may give you more information on how violations are interpreted in your district. You should look out for a rule or standard used to review your violation. Then, you will develop your case around how the standard or rule was violated in...