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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 November 23, 2025.
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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.
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UNITED STATES CIRCULIT JUDGE
ORD=-4S