Motion for Stay of Mandate
Public Court Documents
February 8, 1990 - February 14, 1990

9 pages
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Case Files, McCleskey Legal Records. Motion for Stay of Mandate, 1990. b050911c-5ba7-ef11-8a69-6045bdd667da. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/50291bf2-5b48-4a9a-9a0a-b5e2ac30b77f/motion-for-stay-of-mandate. Accessed July 05, 2025.
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‘ k « fi ORS sh Ils A PEST SUSI PI ee CIR S10 DISC RORTPEPHDIE AWE Sou TH SOE Ret BAS Wes LHS py SER HCC J8 VA EAS Sudan Lo SS IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT NO. 84-8423 WARREN McCLESKEY Petitioner-Appellant, -against- WALTER D. ZANT, Superintendent, Georgia Diagnostic & Classification Center, Respondent-Appellee. On Appeal From The United States District Court For The Northern District Of Georgia Atlanta Division PETITIONER'S MOTION FOR STAY OF THE MANDATE Petitioner Warren McCleskey, by his undersigned counsel, moves this Court, pursuant to Rule 41(b) of the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure, for an order staying the mandate in the above-captioned appeal, pending the timely filing of a petition for certiorari in the Supreme Court of the United States. Petitioner requests the Court to grant him 45 days from the date of the denial of rehearing, to and including March 23, 1990, for submission of his petition for certiorari. THE QUESTIONS TO BE PRESENTED Petitioner's case raises several questions which, under new Rule 10.1 of the Rules of the Supreme Court, merit review on certiorari. (1) Petitioner suggests that the panel has read the "deliberate bypass" branch of the abuse-of-the-writ doctrine in a new way. Under this new reading, a habeas applicant will be deemed to have deliberately abandoned a constitutional claim-- even if neither he nor his counsel were actually aware of the factual predicate of the claim -- if a court later judges that counsel did not conduct a "thorough investigation of the facts" to uncover the claim. This new reading appears to depart sharply from the standard implicitly approved in Price v. Johnston, 334 U.S. 266 (1948). It is inconsistent with Supreme Court's explicit articulation of the deliberate bypass test set forth in Sanders v. United States, 373 U.S. 1 (19863), "which refers to conduct by a petitioner "whose only purpose is to vex, harass, or delay." 373 U. S. at 18. See also, Amadeo v. Zant, U.S. _, 100 L.Ed.2d 249, 262-264 (1988). The new reading likewise conflicts with prior decisions by other circuits on this issue. See, e.qg., Paprskar v. Estelle, 612 F.2d 1003 (5th cir. 1980); Potts v. Zant, 638 F.2d 727 (5th cir. Unit B 1981). If the time has come to refashion the "deliberate bypass" test and impose on habeas counsel an obligation, on pain of forfeiture, to conduct a thorough factual examination of all claims =-- an obligation more stringent than that currently imposed under the "inexcusable neglect" branch of abuse law, since it requires counsel to continue their investigations in the teeth of sworn disavowals by State officials -- the Supreme Court should have a full opportunity to consider this important change before it is adopted by the lower federal courts. (2) A second important question stems from the panel's apparent disregard of the equitable foundations upon which the federal courts have fashioned modern habeas jurisprudence. Sanders underscored that "'habeas corpus has traditionally been regarded as governed by equitable principles . . . [a]mong [which] is the principle that a suitor's conduct in relation to the matter at hand may disentitle him to the relief he seeks." 373 U.S. at 17. Yet in this case, neither the proven course of State misconduct nor the State's ten-year coverup of that misconduct, capped by perjury, were considered in determining whether petitioner's claims should be heard on their merits. This judicial indifference to whether the State has come to the federal courts with clean hands seems inconsistent, not only with general equitable principles, but with the Supreme Court's recent reiteration of similar principles in such habeas cases as Murray v. Carrier, 477 U.S. 478, 488 (1986), ("[W]e note that a showing that the factual . ., ., ‘basis for a claim was not reasonably available to counsel . . . or that 'some interference by officials, . . +. -made compliance impracticable, would constitute cause"); id. at 497 ("[r]espondent has never alleged any external impediment that might have prevented counsel from raising his . . . claim in his petition for review. . . ") (3) The panel's treatment of the State's harmless error defense ignored both the trial record and the District Court's factfindings. Its determination that any violation of Massiah Vv. United States, 377 U. S. 201 (1964), was harmless violated the recent guidelines for appellate review of factfindings set forth in Amadeo v. Zant. See also, Anderson v. City of Bessemer City, 470 U. S. 564 (1984); Pullman-Standard v. Swint, 456 U.S. 273 (1982). Alternatively, if the panel felt itself bound by the previous holding of the Court of Appeals sitting en banc -- that petitioner's Giglio error was harmless -- the Supreme Court should now be afforded the opportunity to examine whether the en banc court was correct on that point and whether, in any event, this Giglio holding was properly expansive enough to control the distinct legal and factual circumstance presented by ‘a Massiah violation. THE NEED FOR ADDITIONAL TIME Petitioner seeks 45 days to prepare his petition for several reasons. The Massiah claim involves a complicated story about the intersection of pretrial police investigations, mid-trial and post-trial defense investigations, state and federal habeas proceedings, and the product of several state and federal svidenilary hearings. The legal issues are also complex. Petitioner's co-counsel, both of whom have been active in the drafting process, live and work in separate cities, and both have heavy litigation responsibilities in other cases during the coming month. It would materially aid counsel in presenting petitioner's claims to have 45 days in which to prepare the petition. CONCLUSION For all of the reasons set forth above, petitioner urges the Court to grant his motion, to stay issuance of the mandate on this appeal through March 23, 1990, and to continue the stay thereafter if petitioner files a timely petition for certiorari with the Supreme Court of the United States by that date. Dated: February 8, 1990 Respectfully submitted, ROBERT H. STROUP 141 Walton Street Atlanta, Georgia 30303 (404) 522-8500 JULIUS L. CHAMBERS JOHN CHARLES BOGER 99 Hudson Street New York, New York 10013 (212) 219-1900 ATTORNEYS FOR PETITIONER -APPELLANT # gl di / BY: 3 L laa, I Pat JP ra a Sy A g & T- CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I hereby certify that I am one of the attorneys for petitioner-appellant Warren McCleskey on this appeal, and that I am a member of the bar of this Court. I have served the annexed motion on respondent-appellee Walter D. Zant by placing a copy in the United States mail, first class mail, postage prepaid, addressed as follows: Mary Beth Westmoreland, Esq. Assistant Attorney General 132 State Judicial Building 40 Capitol Square, S.W. Atlanta, Georgia 30334 All parties required to be served have been served. Done Lan, LAG Cm JQHN CHARLES BOGER *~ Wd this C th day of February, 1990. — United States Court of Appeals Eleventh Circuit 56 Forsyth Street, N.-W. Atlanta, Georgia 30303 Miguel J. Cortez In Replying Give Number Clerk Of Case And Names of Parties February 14, 19°90 MEMORANDUM TO COUNSEL OR PARTIES: RE: 88-3085 McCleskey v. Kemp DC DRT NO.: 8701517 CV MANDATE STAYED TO AND INCLUDING March 23, 1990 The court has this day granted a stay of the mandate to the date shown above. If during the period of the stay there is filed in this court a Notice from the Clerk of the Supreme Court that the party who has obtained the stay has filed a petition for writ of certiorari in the Supreme Court, the stay shall continue until final disposition by the Supreme Court. Upon the filing of a copy of an order of the Supreme Court denying the petition for writ of certiorari, the mandate shall issue forthwith. See Fed.R.App.P. 41. The Clerk of the Supreme Court has requested the clerks of the federal courts of appeal to retain the record on appeal until the Supreme Court requests that it be transmitted. Parties will be advised when this occurs. Accordingly, please refrain from routinely requesting transmittal of the record. See Supreme Court Rule 19.1. A copy of this court’s opinion (or Rule 36-1 decision), the judgment, and any order on rehearing should be attached as an appendix to any petition for writ of certiorari (or jurisdictional statement) filed. See Supreme Court Rules 21(k), 15(j). Sincerely, een) Clerk Reply To: Matt Davidson (404) 331-2904 Consolidated with No. 89-8085 MDT-2 (7/87) ORDER! () OV. IN THE UNITED STATES CQURT OF. APPEALS mem— FILED VE RCUIT | U.S. COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCU | RS . NOS. 88-8085 & FEB! 2A 8D 89-8085 | MIGUEL J. CORTEZ WARREN MCCLEBYRY, ; CLERK Petitioner-Appellee, versus WALTER ZANT, Superintendent. Ganrgia Diagnostic and Classification Center, Respondent-Appellant. Appeals. from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia The motion of Appellee, Warren McCleskey, for (X) stay ( ) raoall and wLay Of Che issuance of the mandate pending petition for writ of certiorari is DENIED. The motion of Appellee, Warren McCleskey, for (X) stay ( ) recall and stay of the lssuance of the mandate pending petition for writ of certiorari is GRANTED to and including ards 13 1990 , the stay to continue in force until the final disposition of tha case by the Suprema Court, provided that witn:in tho period above mentioned there shall be filed with the Clerk 2 this Court the certificate of the Clark of the Supreme Court +--+ tha certiorari patition haa been flled. Tne Clerk shall issue the mandate upon the filing of a gopy of an order af tha Supreme co.cc danying the writ, or upon expiratien of the stay granted here.-. unless the above mentioned certificate shall be filed with the :.ark of this Court within that time. The motion of for a further stay of the issuance of the mandate 1s GRANTED --> -1 including » under the same conditions as so forth in the preceding paragraph, 1T Is ORDERED that the motion of for a further stay of the issuance of the mandate is DENIED. htt atid UNITED STATES CIRCULIT JUDGE ORD=-4S