Linda Metrish, Warden, Petitioner v. Burt Lancaster (569 U.S. 351)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided May 20, 2013 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 569 U.S. 351 · 133 S. Ct. 1781
- Decided
- May 20, 2013
- Term
- October Term 2012
- Vote
- 9–0
- Majority author
- Justice Ginsburg
- Issue area
- Criminal Procedure
- Disposition
- Reversed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Justice GINSBURG delivered the opinion of the Court. Burt Lancaster was convicted in Michigan state court of first-degree murder and a related firearm offense. At the time the crime was committed, Michigan's intermediate appellate court had repeatedly recognized "diminished capacity" as a defense negating the mens rea element of first-degree murder. By the time of Lancaster's trial and conviction, however, the Michigan Supreme Court in People v. Carpenter, 464 Mich. 223, 627 N.W.2d 276 (2001), had rejected the defense. Lancaster asserts that retroactive application of the Michigan Supreme Court's decision in Carpenter denied him due process of law. On habeas review, a federal court must assess a claim for relief under the demanding standard set by the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA). Under that standard, Lancaster may gain relief only if the state-court decision he assails "was contrary to, or involved an unreasonable application of, clearly established Federal law, as determined by [this] Court." 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d)(1). We hold that Lancaster's petition does not meet AEDPA's requirement and that the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit erred in granting him federal habeas relief. I On April 23, 1993, Lancaster, a former police officer with a long history of severe mental-health problems, shot and killed his girlfriend in a…
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