No. 21-6705

Robert Tracy Warterfield v. Bobby Lumpkin, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division

Lower Court: Fifth Circuit
Docketed: 2021-12-22
Status: Denied
Type: IFP
IFP
Tags: aedpa certificate-of-appealability conflict-of-interest contracts-clause district-court due-process final-judgment habeas-corpus interlocutory-appeal jurisdiction plea-agreement sixth-amendment
Key Terms:
DueProcess HabeasCorpus
Latest Conference: 2022-02-18
Question Presented (AI Summary)

Does a United States Court of Appeals have jurisdiction to deny a Motion for a Certificate of Appealability when the District Court's putative Final Judgement in a 28 U.S.C. §2254 proceeding is issued prior to resolution of a pending interlocutory appeal perfected under 28 U.S.C. §1292(a)(1)

Question Presented (OCR Extract)

QUESTION(S) PRESENTED ° 1) Does a United States Court of Appeals have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §1291 to deny a Motion for a Certificate of Appealability when the District Court's putative Final Judgement in 3 28 U.S.C. §2254 proceeding is issued prior to resolution of a pending interlocutory appeal perfected under 28 U.S.C. §1292(a)(1) thereby making the District Court's Judgement premature and ipso facto not "final?" 2) Has the Supreme Court of the United States effectively nullified or else diminished the Contracts Clause (Art.I, §10) over time to the point that the Constitutional prohibition that "No State shall ; +---Ppass any...Law impairing the Obligations of Contract..." is irrelevant to the proper interpretation and enforcement of plea agreement contracts? , 3) Does the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment compel State prosecutors to perform, and courts to interpret and enforce, Plea agreements pursuant to the status of the laws in existence at formation? : 4) Where a prosecution is void ab initio because it contravenes a vested contractual right to immunity from prosecution, is the AEDPA one year limitations under 28 U.S.C. §2244(d)(1)(A) inapposite since it requires a "final". conviction to operate? 5) Where trial counsel is first retained and paid in full then becomes court appointed to frauduently enlarge his fees over Defend: ant's written pretrial objection, is an actual conflict of interests created wherein the client's legal interests are subordinated to ‘the attorney's legal interests causing a per se denial of the right to counsel guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment? | L

Docket Entries

2022-02-22
Petition DENIED.
2022-02-03
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 2/18/2022.
2021-10-29
Petition for a writ of certiorari and motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis filed. (Response due January 21, 2022)

Attorneys

Robert Tracy Warterfield
Robert Tracy Warterfield — Petitioner