--- andie nachgeborenen <andie_nachgeborenen at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Well, I won't make a big deal of it, but we
> disagree.
Not being a law expert, I have the following question.
I read the Herrera decision, and the way I understand it is that the actual case (i.e. Herrera) before the court does not pose a constitutional challenge, rather than that such a challnege cannot be raised in a different case. That is, the court determined that in the Herrera case, the State District Court did consider the newly "discovered" evidence and turned it down on facts, and following that, the petitioner tried to purse the same claim on procedural grounds.
As I understand it, this decision simply says that this particular case was decided entirely on the facts and no procedural errors were found, therefore the procedural claim was groundless. However, that decision would not have any bearing in diffrent hypothetical case in which a new evidence was found and the courts declined to consider it altogethe - in which case it could violate the 5th amendment (due process), rathr than the 8th amendmend (cruel punishment) as argued in Herrera.
In plain English, the meaning of the Herrera decision is that the defense attorneys basically botched the case by filing a wrong clam (or perhaps they did not botch it but that was all they could possibly do under the circumstance) - rather than that it legally permits an execution of an innocent person, as the latter woul dhave been avoided albeit by legal means different from those being considered in Herrera.
Is that a correct interpretation? If so, why is this decision considered to be such a big threat to civli liberties? If not, what have I missed?
Another question. Blaming it on a dead brother or some other dead jail bird eight years after the fact is such a lame excuse that I am surprised that this case made its way all the way to the SC, instead of being thrown out of court at lower levels. The SC could also refuse to hear it, yet they took it. Why?
Wojtek
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