Just listened to a podcast about a case of a man being falsely convicted of raping and killing a 4 year old girl. He was sentenced to death, and his new lawyers succeeded in arguing ineffective counsel before the federal appeals court. Guess what happened?
Even after TWO federal courts agreed to overturn his conviction and grant him a new trial, the Attorney General of Arizona appealed the case to the Supreme Court. Not arguing that he was guilty, but in fact arguing that it didn't matter if he was innocent.
No, I'm not joking, they quite literally argued to the SCOTUS that innocence doesn't matter -- but that in fact there is no constitutional right for the federal courts to intervene and provide relief for a state level conviction on this basis. The 6 conservative justices AGREED.
And with that, not only will this man remain on death row to be executed, but they reversed THEIR OWN COURT'S RULING in 2011 case Martinez v. Ryan that affirmed a defendant's right to effective counsel and to seek relief from such ineffective counsel in the federal courts.
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