Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA) was passed by the 107th Congress “to deter terrorism, provide justice for victims, provide for an effective death penalty, and for other purposes.” To accomplish this goal, some of...
AEDPA
On October 29, 1999 in Winchester, Virginia, Sergeant Ricky Timbrook and two probation officers encountered Petitioner Edward Bell and another man while searching for a wanted parolee. See Bell v. Kelly, No. 06-22 at 10 (4th Cir. Jan. 4, 2008) (...
In 1992, Respondent Michael Bies was convicted of the kidnapping, murder, and attempted rape of a ten-year-old boy. See Bies v. Bagley, 519 F.3d 324, 327 (2008). Bies admitted to participating in the murder with the aid of an accomplice. See State v....
This case arises from Kevan Brumfield’s 1993 conviction for the murder of a Baton Rouge police officer and an attempted armed robbery. See Brumfield v. Cain, 854 F. Supp. 2d 366, 371 (M.D. La. 2012). On January 5, 1993, Brumfield and an associate went...
Respondent Vonlee Titlow is a transgender male prisoner currently serving a twenty-to-forty year sentence. See Titlow v. Burt,680 F.3d 577, 582 (6th Cir. 2012). A Michigan state court jury convicted Titlow of second-degree murder for assisting...
On July 29, 1991, a jury in Sacramento County Superior Court convicted Reginald Chavis of attempted murder and sentenced him to life in prison with the possibility of parole. Chavis v. LeMarque, 382 F.3d 921, 923 (9th Cir. 2004). Chavis appealed the...
In June 1995, Roberto Velasquez was murdered outside a Texas apartment building; his sister identified Petitioner Rafael Arriaza Gonzalez as the shooter. See Gonzalez v. Texas, No. 05-05-01140-CR (Tex.App. July 12, 2006). Texas investigators issued a...
In December 1993, three or four men robbed a North Philadelphia grocery store, stealing the cash register and killing the storeowner. See Greene v. Palakovich, 606 F.3d 85, 87–88 (3d Cir. 2010). A week later, police arrested Petitioner Eric Greene and...
On December 19, 1995, Respondent Joshua Richter (“Richter”) and his co-worker Christian Branscombe (“Branscombe”) drove to Joshua Johnson’s (“Johnson”) home, to deliver money that Richter owed to his co-worker “Tony” and to buy marijuana from Johnson....
In 1996, a Florida state court convicted Albert Holland of first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, attempted sexual battery, and armed robbery, and subsequently sentenced Holland to death. See Holland v. Florida, 539 F.3d 1334, 1336–37 (...