US Supreme Court dismisses state's petition for cert. on prosecutorial misconduct
In a 6-3 decision, the United States Supreme Court dismissed a writ which presented the issue of whether federal courts may overturn a death sentence from a state court, under 28 USC 2254, based upon inflammatory remarks during closing arguments.
In Roper v. Weaver, the Court issues a Per Curiam decision in which it found that the defendant's original federal habeas petition, which was filed before AEDPA's effective date, was improperly dismissed by the federal district court under Lawrence v. Florida. The defendant filed a second habeas petition after AEDPA's effective date and that petition was the subject of the federal appelalte court's ruling that the sentence of death should be vacated based upon prosecutorial misconduct. The parties agreed that if the case was governed by pre-AEDPA law, the defendant was entitlted to relief. This conclusion was premised in part upon the fact that the defendant's two co-defendants, who had filed pre-AEDPA petitions, obtained reversals of their death sentences based upon the same issue. The question presented was whether the claim of prosecutorial misconduct could survive AEDPA review.
"Whether this unusual procedural history leads to the conclusion, as respondent colorably contends, that the AEDPA standard is simply inapplicable to this case, is a question we find unnecessary to resolve. Regardless of the answer to that question, we find it appropriate to exercise our discretion to prevent these three virtually identically situated litigants from being treated in a needlessly disparate manner, simply because the District Court erroneously dismissed respondent's pre-AEDPA petition. Accordingly, the writ of certiorari is dismissed as improvidently granted."
Chief Justice Roberts concurred in the result.
Justices Scalia, Thomas and Alito dissented.