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COA granted

By Karl R. Keys, Esq.

The Fifth Circuit in David Lee Powell v. Quarterman, 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 8209 (April 16, 2008) (unpublished), on Wednesday granted a Certificate of Appealability on three issues in this case out of Texas.  The COA’s first question seems rather curious: Claim 1. Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466 (2000), and Ring v. Arizona, 536 U.S. 564 (2002), which were decided while Powell’s case was on direct appeal, required that Powell’s third trial (a capital resentencing proceeding following affirmance of the conviction) be a complete new trial on all the elements of the capital offense (including guilt-innocence elements) rather than just a retrial on the elements formerly treated as sentencing factors. Claim 2. The prosecution’s failure timely to disclose documents in which agents of the prosecution asserted that Meinert fired shots at Officer Ablanedo and the other officers and threw a hand grenade violated Powell’s right to due process under Brady v...continue to full post

Full post as published by Capital Defense Weekly on April 18, 2008 (boomark / email).