United States Supreme Court

Judgment denying a state prisoner's petition for federal habeas corpus relief is reversed and the case is remanded, where: 1) there was cause to excuse prisoner's procedural default in failing to timely file an appeal of the denial of his petition for postconviction relief in state court, where through no fault of his own, he lost the assistance of any authorized attorney during the appeal period and he had no reason to suspect that he had been reduced to pro se status; and 2) neither the district court nor the Eleventh Circuit reached the question of prejudice, so that it remained open for decision on remand.

Appellate Information

• Decided 01/18/2012
• Published 01/18/2012

Judges

• Ginsburg

Court

• United States Supreme Court

Counsel