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Search : U.S. Supreme Court : Sentencing : From 10/01/06 To 07/01/07

Number of summaries found: 11
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Court: U.S. Supreme Court
Topic: Constitutional Law, Criminal Law & Procedure, Habeas Corpus, Health Law, Sentencing
Title: Panetti v. Quarterman
Date: 06/28/07
Case Number: 06-6407
Summary: Denial of a petition for a writ of habeas corpus brought by a prisoner convicted and sentenced to death in a Texas state court is reversed where: 1) the Supreme Court has statutory authority to adjudicate the claims raised in the habeas application; 2) a state court failed to provide the procedures to which petitioner was entitled under the Constitution; and 3) a federal appellate court employed an improperly restrictive test when it considered petitioner's claim of incompetency on the merits.

Court: U.S. Supreme Court
Topic: Criminal Law & Procedure, Sentencing
Title: Rita v. US
Date: 06/21/07
Case Number: 06-5754
Summary: A court of appeals may apply a presumption of reasonableness to a district court sentence within the United States Sentencing Guidelines.

Court: U.S. Supreme Court
Topic: Criminal Law & Procedure, Habeas Corpus, Per Curiam, Sentencing
Title: Roper v. Weaver
Date: 05/21/07
Case Number: 06-313
Summary: The writ of certiorari in a criminal matter, which raised an issue regarding whether a court of appeals properly applied the AEDPA's stringent standard of review in setting aside a capital sentence, is dismissed as improvidently granted, as the Court found it necessary to prevent three identically-situated litigants from being treated in a needlessly disparate manner, simply because the district court in this matter erroneously dismissed respondent's pre-AEDPA petition.

Court: U.S. Supreme Court
Topic: Criminal Law & Procedure, Evidence, Habeas Corpus, Sentencing
Title: Schriro v. Landrigan
Date: 05/14/07
Case Number: 05-1575
Summary: In habeas proceedings in a death penalty case, a circuit court's decision remanding the case for an evidentiary hearing on an ineffective assistance claim is reversed where the district court did not abuse its discretion in refusing to grant respondent an evidentiary hearing. Even assuming the truth of all the facts respondent sought to prove at the evidentiary hearing at issue, he still could not be granted federal habeas relief because state courts' factual determination that respondent would not have allowed counsel to present any mitigating evidence at sentencing was not an unreasonable determination of the facts under the AEDPA, and the mitigating evidence he sought to introduce would not have changed the result.

Court: U.S. Supreme Court
Topic: Criminal Law & Procedure, Evidence, Habeas Corpus, Sentencing
Title: Abdul-Kabir v. Quarterman
Date: 04/25/07
Case Number: 05-11284
Summary: In a capital murder case, denial of habeas relief for petitioner is reversed where there was a reasonable likelihood that a state trial court's instructions prevented jurors from giving meaningful consideration to constitutionally relevant mitigating evidence, and consequently a court of appeals' ruling resulted in a decision that was contrary to, or involved an unreasonable application of, clearly established federal law, as determined by the Supreme Court.

Court: U.S. Supreme Court
Topic: Criminal Law & Procedure, Evidence, Habeas Corpus, Sentencing
Title: Brewer v. Quarterman
Date: 04/25/07
Case Number: 05-11287
Summary: In a capital murder case, denial of a habeas petition is reversed where the Texas capital sentencing statute, as interpreted by a state court, impermissibly prevented defendant's jury from giving meaningful consideration and effect to constitutionally relevant mitigating evidence. Thus, its decision denying relief under Penry was contrary to, and involved an unreasonable application of, clearly established federal law as determined by the Supreme Court.

Court: U.S. Supreme Court
Topic: Criminal Law & Procedure, Evidence, Habeas Corpus, Sentencing
Title: Smith v. Texas
Date: 04/25/07
Case Number: 05-11287
Summary: In a first-degree murder and death penalty case in which sentencing took place in between the two Penry decisions of the Supreme Court, denial of relief on collateral review is reversed where a state court's errors of federal law regarding preservation of a Penry claim could not be the predicate for requiring him to show egregious harm, and petitioner appeared to be entitled to relief under the applicable state harmless-error framework.

Court: U.S. Supreme Court
Topic: Criminal Law & Procedure, Evidence, Habeas Corpus, Sentencing
Title: Brewer v. Quarterman
Date: 04/25/07
Case Number: 05-11287
Summary: In a capital murder case, denial of a habeas petition is reversed where the Texas capital sentencing statute, as interpreted by a state court, impermissibly prevented defendant's jury from giving meaningful consideration and effect to constitutionally relevant mitigating evidence. Thus, its decision denying relief under Penry was contrary to, and involved an unreasonable application of, clearly established federal law as determined by the Supreme Court.

Court: U.S. Supreme Court
Topic: Criminal Law & Procedure, Evidence, Habeas Corpus, Sentencing
Title: Smith v. Texas
Date: 04/25/07
Case Number: 05-11287
Summary: In a first-degree murder and death penalty case in which sentencing took place in between the two Penry decisions of the Supreme Court, denial of relief on collateral review is reversed where a state court's errors of federal law regarding preservation of a Penry claim could not be the predicate for requiring him to show egregious harm, and petitioner appeared to be entitled to relief under the applicable state harmless-error framework.

Court: U.S. Supreme Court
Topic: Criminal Law & Procedure, Sentencing
Title: James v. US
Date: 04/18/07
Case Number: 05-9264
Summary: Attempted burglary, as defined by Florida law, is a "violent felony" under the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA) for sentencing purposes.

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