Chapter 13: Federal Habeas Corpus
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CHAPTER 13 FEDERAL HABEAS CORPUS*1 A. Introduction This Chapter explains an important right—the writ of habeas corpus. Habeas corpus is guaranteed by the Constitution to incarcerated people in federal custody whose arrest, trial, or actual sentence violated a federal statute, treaty, or the U.S. Constitution. Because the Constitution is the only federal law that governs state criminal procedures, if you are incarcerated in state custody, you must show a violation of the U.S. Constitution for your habeas petition to succeed. As an incarcerated person (regardless of whether you are in state or federal prison), you can challenge your conviction or sentence by petitioning for a writ of habeas corpus in federal court. By petitioning for a writ, you are asking the court to determine whether your conviction or sentence is illegal. A writ of habeas corpus can be very powerful because if the court accepts your argument, the court can order your immediate release, a new trial, or a new sentencing hearing. This Chapter will teach you more about federal habeas corpus and how to petition for it. Part A will introduce and explain a few basic concepts about federal habeas. The rest of the Chapter will go into more detail. Please note that the term, “federal habeas corpus,” refers to habeas corpus in a federal court. Though subject to different rules, incarcerated people in both state or federal custody may petition for a federal writ of habeas corpus. What Is Habeas Corpus? Habeas corpus is a kind of petition that you can file in federal court to claim that your imprisonment violates federal law.2 The term “federal law” includes not only federal statutes, but also U.S. treaties and the U.S. Constitution. Whether you are incarcerated in state or federal custody, a federal habeas petition claims that your imprisonment is illegal because your arrest, trial, or sentence violated federal law. This would be true if any aspect of your arrest, trial, or actual sentence violated a federal statute, treaty, or the U.S. Constitution. If you believe that your imprisonment violates federal law, you can file a habeas petition regardless of whether your trial was in state court or federal court, and regardless of whether you are in a state prison or a federal prison. However, as you will learn in this Chapter, incarcerated people in state custody and incarcerated people in federal custody will have to go through different processes for filing habeas petitions. People incarcerated in state custody may also find it more difficult than incarcerated people in federal custody to win a habeas claim. In both cases, a federal habeas petition claims that your imprisonment is illegal because your arrest, trial, or sentence violated federal law. It is important to understand what a habeas petition is not. A habeas petition is not a “direct appeal” of your conviction. A direct appeal asks the state or federal appeals court (the court above the trial court in which you were convicted) to review the objections you or your lawyer made during the trial. To learn more about direct appeals, read JLM, Chapter 9, “Appealing Your Conviction or Sentence.” Federal habeas is a “collateral appeal,” which is different from a direct appeal. A direct appeal challenges the merits of the judgment, but a collateral appeal challenges the procedure leading to the judgment. When you file a habeas petition, you are claiming that a mistake that violated federal law was made during your trial or sentencing. You will probably base this claim on evidence that you did not present at your trial. You can only make a habeas claim in federal court after making other appeals. * This Chapter was revised by Bridget Kennedy based on earlier versions by Archana Prakash, Edward Smock, Jennifer H. Lin, Reena Sandoval, Allison Rutledge-Parisi, Miriam Lefkowitz, William Duffy, and Mark Sanders. Special thanks to Carrie Ellis, Ryan Marks, and Ronald Tabak. 2. A habeas challenge is a civil action, not a criminal action. It is an action that you bring against the government. Therefore, in habeas petitions, the incarcerated person is often referred to as the “plaintiff,” “petitioner,” or “complainant.” For clarity, this Chapter often refers to the incarcerated person bringing the habeas petition as the “defendant.” Ch. 13 FEDERAL HABEAS CORPUS 263 If you are incarcerated for a state crime and lose your direct appeal, your state will have another procedure you can follow to challenge your conviction. This procedure is usually called either “state post-conviction proceedings” or “state habeas corpus.” State habeas corpus is the same thing as a state post-conviction appeal; it is a remedy provided by the state in which you were convicted, and is based on that state’s statutes.3 It is important to remember that state post-conviction proceedings and federal habeas corpus are entirely different claims. If you are incarcerated in state custody, you will need to “exhaust” your state remedies before being able to file a federal habeas petition. This means that you can only file a federal habeas petition if you have already lost your state direct appeal and your state post-conviction proceedings. In your federal habeas petition, you can ask the federal court to review the claims that you brought in your direct appeal and your post-conviction proceedings in state court. However, in your federal habeas petition, you can only include claims that are based on federal law (federal statutes, treaties, or the U.S. Constitution). If you are incarcerated in federal custody, you will not file a state post-conviction proceeding. If you lose your direct appeal in federal court, you will be able to file a federal habeas petition right away. This Chapter will often discuss state proceedings. If you are an incarcerated person in federal custody, you should keep in mind that discussions of state proceedings in this Chapter do not apply to you unless the Chapter specifically says that they do. What Will This Chapter Teach You? Part B (“The Fundamental Elements of a Federal Habeas Corpus Argument”) will teach you about the basic elements of claims you can bring in a habeas petition and how the courts will treat your claims. Since most habeas petitions include claims of constitutional violations, Section 1 explains the portions of the U.S. Constitution that you are most likely to rely on in your habeas petition. Section 1 also tells you how to discover a habeas claim in your arrest, trial, or sentence. Appendix C lists examples of successful habeas claims. These concrete examples should help you prepare your own petition. Section 2 explains how the court evaluates your claim. Section 2 will teach you how to know which standard the courts use and how to show the court that your rights were violated. Section 3 teaches you how to show the court that the violation of your rights affected your conviction or sentence. Section 3 also discusses the harmless error rule. Section 4 explains the special standard of review that federal courts must use when they review habeas claims brought by people incarcerated in state custody. Part C (“What You Cannot Raise In Your Habeas Petition”) tells you what violations or issues you cannot complain about in your habeas petition because the writ of habeas corpus is designed to only allow you to obtain relief in specific situations. Section 1 explains that you generally cannot bring habeas petitions that claim Fourth Amendment violations. Sections 2 and 3 discuss laws that are passed after your trial, called new laws. Section 2 discusses what a new law is and explains that you normally cannot bring habeas claims based on new laws. Section 3 explains the exceptions to this rule—the situations in which you can include claims based on a new law in your habeas petition. Part D (“Procedures for Filing a Petition for Habeas Corpus”) explains the basic requirements of your habeas petition, including that you be in custody, have exhausted state remedies, are not in procedural default, have filed within the proper time limit, and that your petition is not successive. 3. For more information about state post-conviction proceedings, you can look at JLM, Chapter 20, “Using Article 440 of the New York Criminal Procedure Law to Attack Your Unfair Conviction or Illegal Sentence,” and JLM, Chapter 22, “How to Challenge Administrative Decisions Using Article 78 of the New York Civil Practice Law and Rules.” State post-conviction proceedings for Florida, New York, and Texas are described in JLM, Chapter 21, “State Habeas Corpus: Florida, New York, and Texas.” Remember, state habeas proceedings are the same as state post-conviction proceedings. In this Chapter, the term “state post-conviction proceedings” will be used to refer to both. The term “habeas” will only be used to refer to federal habeas corpus. 264 A JAILHOUSE LAWYER’S MANUAL Ch. 13 Part E (“The Mechanics of Petitioning for Federal Habeas Corpus”) discusses the basic mechanical process surrounding habeas law: (1) when to file, (2) where to file, (3) against whom to file, (4) how to file, (5) what to expect after you file, and (6) how to appeal. Part F (“How to Get Help from a Lawyer”) discusses, as the title suggests, how to get help from a lawyer for your habeas petition. Even though you are entitled to a lawyer during your trial and direct appeals, you are not entitled to have a lawyer to help with your habeas petition. However, you should still try to get help from a lawyer if you can. Appendix A is a chart of the appeals process, from your trial through your federal habeas petition.