Terry L. Stewart, Director, Arizona Department of Corrections v. Robert Douglas Smith (534 U.S. 157)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided December 12, 2001 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 534 U.S. 157 · 122 S. Ct. 1143
- Decided
- December 12, 2001
- Term
- October Term 2001
- Vote
- 9–0
- Issue area
- Judicial Power
- Disposition
- Certification to/from a lower court
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Per Curiam. Respondent Robert Douglas Smith was convicted in 1982 of first-degree murder, kidnaping, and sexual assault. He was sentenced to death on the murder count, and consecutive 21-year prison terms for the other counts. After a series of unsuccessful petitions for state postconviction relief, respondent filed a federal petition for a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U. S. C. §2254 (1994 ed. and Supp. V) in the United States District Court for the District of Arizona. The petition alleged that his trial and appellate counsel were ineffective for failing to challenge various trial errors. Respondent had previously brought these ineffective-assistance claims in 1995 in a petition for state postconviction relief pursuant to Arizona Rule of Criminal Procedure 32 (West 2000). The Pima County Superior Court denied his claims, finding them waived under Arizona Rule 32.2(a)(3) because respondent failed to raise them in his previous two Rule 32 petitions. In doing so, it rejected as “outrageous” respondent’s argument that his failure to raise these claims was also due to ineffective assistance — in particular, that his prior appellate and Rule 32 counsel, who are members of the Arizona Public Defender’s office, refused to file ineffeetive-assistance-of-counsel claims because his trial counsel was also a member of the Public Defender’s office. App. D to Pet. for Cert. 1. On federal…
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