DueProcess Securities
Does Tennessee's Error Coram Nobis procedure discriminate against blacks and the poor, violating their constitutional rights?
QUESTIONS PRESENTED 1. The Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals and the Tennessee Supreme Court have decided that before an evidentiary hearing will be granted to an Error Coram Nobis petitioner involving newly or subsequently discovered evidence, an Error Coram Nobis petitioner must provide the actual proof to the court, contemporaneously with the petition, via sworn affidavits of those who have personal knowledge. Does such a mandatory provision discriminate against blacks and against those who are poor, thereby violating their United States Constitutional Rights to have Equal Access to the Courts, Equal Protection of the Laws, and Due Process of Law (U.S. Const. Am. 1 and 14)? ; 2. Does Tennessee's Error Coram Nobis Procedure, via TCA. 40-26-105 and binding case law precedents, violate the United States Constitutional Rights of blacks (a suspect group) and of those who are poor, denying both groups equal access to the courts, due process, and equal protection of the laws (U.S. Const. Am. 1 and 14)? 3. Are T.C.A. 40-26-105 and binding Error Coram Nobis case law precedents repugnant to the United States Constitution because they allow more whites to prove actual innocence claims via newly discovered evidence and sworn affidavits than blacks with the . same or similar proof?