United States Supreme Court
Johnson v. Lee, 15-789
In a petition for writ of habeas corpus relief from sentence of life without parole for conviction of first degree murder, the Ninth Circuit grant of relief, holding that the Dixon bar (under which a defendant procedurally defaults a claim raised for the first time on state collateral review if he could have raised it earlier on direct appeal) is inadequate to bar federal habeas review, is reversed where California's procedural bar is longstanding, oft-cited, and shared by habeas courts across the Nation.
Appellate Information
- Decided
- Published 2016/05/31
Judges
- PER CURIAM
Court
- United States Supreme Court