Summary
U.S. Supreme Court decision reinstating the death sentence of Alabama serial murderer, Daniel Siebert. Siebert had admitted to, and ultimately been convicted of the murders of Sherri Weathers and her son, as well as the murder of Linda Jarman. Siebert was sentenced to death for both murders in 1987. In 1992, after both convictions had been affirmed by the Alabama Supreme Court, Siebert filed state petitions for habeas relief. He filed his state petitions three months past the state filing deadline, and the circuit county court rejected both petitions. In 2001, Siebert filed federal petitions for habeas corpus review. The petitions were dismissed as they were filed after the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA) filing deadline for habeas corpus petitions had lapsed. In 2005, while Siebert’s appeal of the dismissal was pending in the Eleventh Circuit, the U.S. Supreme Court held that “time limits, no matter their form, are filing conditions,” and an untimely state petition does not suspend federal time limits. Two years later, a panel of the Eleventh Circuit ruled that Alabama’s time limits did not prevent federal court review of Siebert’s claims. CJLF argued as an amicus curiae that the Eleventh Circuit’s ruling was “demonstrably erroneous” and summary reversal was appropriate. The U.S. Supreme Court agreed, and stated, in a 7-2 decision, “[w]hen a postconviction petition is untimely under state law, that is the end of the matter . . . .” The decision affirmed the Supreme Court’s 2005 decision in Pace v. DiGuglielmo, 544 U.S. 408 (2005). [CJLF brief in PDF.]
