No. 20-6498

Tony Barksdale v. Jefferson Dunn, Commissioner, Alabama Department of Corrections

Lower Court: Eleventh Circuit
Docketed: 2020-12-02
Status: Denied
Type: IFP
IFP
Tags: capital-punishment capital-sentencing certificate-of-appealability due-process effective-assistance-of-counsel eighth-amendment eleventh-circuit habeas-corpus sixth-amendment supreme-court-precedent
Key Terms:
DueProcess Punishment HabeasCorpus
Latest Conference: 2021-04-16
Question Presented (AI Summary)

Did the Eleventh Circuit misconstrue this Court's guidance in Buck v. Davis when it denied Petitioner a Certificate of Appealability?

Question Presented (OCR Extract)

QUESTIONS PRESENTED 1. Did the Eleventh Circuit misconstrue this Court’s guidance in, inter alia, Buck v. Davis, 580 U.S. __, 187 S. Ct. 759 (2017), when it denied Petitioner a Certificate of Appealability on the basis that a reasonable jurist might agree with the resolution of his constitutional claims in the court below, when the applicable test for “debatability” is whether any such judge could sensibly disagree with it? 2. Do the failures of defense counsel in a capital trial to perform any meaningful investigation, or to develop a defense case for reduced culpability or mitigation of sentence, satisfy this Court’s tests for effective assistance of counsel as articulated in Andrus v. Texas, 590 U.S. ___, 140 S. Ct. 1875 (2020); Rompilla v. Beard, 545 U.S. 374 (2005); Wiggins v. Smith, 539 U.S. 510 (2003); Williams v. Taylor, 529 U.S. 362 (2000); and Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984)? 3. Did the verbatim adoption by the State court judge of the prosecution’s proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law in Petitioner’s capital habeas corpus proceedings violate due process of law as guaranteed by the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments? 4. Is a State court’s imposition of a capital sentence following the recommendation of a non-unanimous jury, and relying on the trial judge’s independent assessment of aggravating and mitigating factors, consistent with this Court’s teachings in Ramos v. Louisiana, 590 U.S. __, 140 S. Ct. 1390 (2020), and Hurst v. Florida, 577 U.S. __, 136 S. Ct. 616 (2016)? 1

Docket Entries

2021-04-19
Petition DENIED.
2021-03-25
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 4/16/2021.
2021-03-19
Reply of petitioner Tony Barksdale filed.
2021-03-05
Brief of respondent Jefferson Dunn in opposition filed.
2021-01-28
Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is further extended to and including March 5, 2021.
2021-01-27
Motion to extend the time to file a response from February 3, 2021 to March 5, 2021, submitted to The Clerk.
2020-12-21
Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including February 3, 2021.
2020-12-18
Motion to extend the time to file a response from January 4, 2021 to February 3, 2021, submitted to The Clerk.
2020-11-27
Petition for a writ of certiorari and motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis filed. (Response due January 4, 2021)

Attorneys

Jefferson Dunn
Beth Jackson HughesOffice of the Attorney General, Respondent
Tony Barksdale
Steven Marc SchneebaumSteven M Schneebaum, PC, Petitioner