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Holland v. Florida

By Steve Hall

AP reports, "Court: Death row case goes back to lower court."The Supreme Court said Monday lower courts should look again at an appeal from a death row inmate in Florida whose lawyer missed the deadline for asking federal courts to stop his execution. The high court overturned an appeals court decision saying Albert Holland had missed his chance to get a federal review of his death sentence because his lawyer did not file his paperwork on time. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta said the only way the deadline could be extended is if a defendant can prove that his lawyer showed "bad faith, dishonesty, divided loyalty, mental impairment, or so forth" instead of just being "grossly negligent." "In our view, this standard is too rigid," said Justice Stephen Breyer, writing the 7-2 judgment for the court...continue to full post

Full post as published by StandDown Texas Project on June 14, 2010 (boomark / email).