Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Criminal Law Blogs -> Sentencing Law and Policy

Criminal Law

: Sentencing Law and Policy

After winning SCOTUS battle, Danforth loses state retroactivity war

By Douglas A. Berman

As habeas fans know, last year the Supreme Court held in Danforth that state courts were not obligated to apply the federal habeas standards of Teague when deciding whether to give constitutional rulings retroactive effects.  This important victory for defendant Stephan Danforth has proved to by temporary, because today in this split ruling, the Minnesota Supreme Court chose to adopt the Teague rule for state retroactivity purposes even though it now knows it does not have to.  Here are snippets from the majority opinion in this round of Danforth: Some states have found Teague too narrow or strict, or out of place where a state court is reviewing its own convictions. See, e.g., Colwell v. State, 59 P. 3d 463, 471 (Nev. 2002) (adopting modified version of Teague)...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on February 26, 2009 (boomark / email).