Summary
Five to Four United States Supreme Court ruling expanding a criminal's ability to extend court review by attacking his state-paid habeas corpus lawyer. In 1997, gang member Carlos Trevino was convicted and sentenced to death for the kidnap, gange rape, and murder of a 15-year-old Texas girl. After years of appeals of his conviction and sentence, including an attack on the competenceof his trial lawyer, Trevino's new lawyer came up with a different claim against the trial lawyer. When the Federal District Court dismissed the claim as defaulted, Trevino argued that a 2012 high court ruling creating a narrow exception tot the rule prohibiting incompetence claims against a defendant's habeas corpus lawyer should be expanded to accommodate his case. At the invitation of the Tecas Solicitor General, CJLF joined this case to argue that the exception Trevino wants would swallow the rule. The Court ruled to create the exception anyway, opening the door to years of unnecessary and expensive review to already lengthy death penalty cases.
