CROSS-APPEAL

Jennings v. Stephens

Issues

Is a federal habeas petitioner required to file a Certificate of Appealability, a separate motion for appeal, or even both before presenting an alternative argument on appeal in support of the district court's judgment where that argument failed at the district court?

The Supreme Court will decide whether a federal habeas petitioner must file a Certificate of Appealability (“COA”), a cross-notice of appeal, or even both before raising an argument at the court of appeals level that the district court rejected. Jennings, a prisoner on death row, asserts that he was not required to obtain a COA or a cross-notice of appeal in order to present a cross-point in support of the district court’s judgment. Stephens, the Director of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions divisions, argues that the Fifth Circuit did not have jurisdiction to hear Jennings’ alternative claim because Jennings had not timely requested a COA or filed a cross-notice of appeal. The Supreme Court’s resolution of this case will have important consequences for habeas corpus applicants like Jennings, a death row inmate, as well as on the judicial efficiency of the courts in hearing habeas corpus appeals.

Questions as Framed for the Court by the Parties

  1. Did the Fifth Circuit err in reversing the district court's grant of habeas corpus relief based on ineffective assistance of counsel at the punishment stage of a death penalty trial by deferring to a state court prejudice determination that was contrary to or involved an unreasonable application of clearly established Supreme Court precedent?
  2. Did the Fifth Circuit err in holding that the state court reasonably determined that trial counsel made a sound strategic decision not to present any evidence of petitioner's disadvantaged background in a capital case where, in its absence, the jury was deprived of meaningful mitigating evidence that could have resulted in a life sentence?
  3. Did the Fifth Circuit err in holding that the federal doctrine of waiver precludes a federal habeas court from considering an argument made initially in a footnote in a state court brief that was not waived under state law?
  4. Did the Fifth Circuit err in holding that a federal habeas petitioner who prevailed in the district court on an ineffective assistance of counsel claim must file a separate notice of appeal and motion for a certificate of appealability to raise an allegation of deficient performance that the district court rejected even though the Fifth Circuit acquired jurisdiction over the entire claim as a result of the respondent's appeal?

On July 19, 1988, Petitioner Robert Mitchell Jennings entered an adult bookstore with the intent to commit a robbery. Jennings v. Stephens, 537 Fed. Appx. 326, 328 (5th Cir. 2013). At the time, Elston Howard, a police officer, was arresting the bookstore clerk.

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