Word: coleman
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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These are the sorts of considerations that Coleman might have raised on appeal. But during his first habeas appeal, a pair of pro bono lawyers from Arnold & Porter argued primarily that there was insufficient proof of his guilt. Since then, court after court has rejected Coleman's arguments, maintaining that such details should have been presented in the first appeal. A year ago, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against his petition for an evidentiary hearing because the Washington lawyers filed papers a day too late. "Coleman might very well be innocent, yet the Supreme Court has used this arbitrary rule...
...Coleman has left to argue is his "actual innocence." It is the one legal path -- albeit a narrow one -- that might enable him to circumvent the habeas corpus guidelines that now essentially restrict capital felons to a single federal appeal. Kathleen Behan, his new attorney, has been relentless in developing the innocence argument. She has made more than a dozen trips to Grundy to uncover new evidence and enlist further support. A few months ago, she rented a backhoe to dig up the landfill where Keester Shortridge said he dumped the bloody sheets. For her effort, she was rewarded with...
This final habeas corpus appeal offers seven reasons why Coleman should be granted an evidentiary hearing that will enable him to prove his innocence. Behan believes that she has "overwhelming" evidence someone else killed Wanda and that if a hearing is granted, her evidence of Coleman's innocence will prevail. Her fear is that she will never be able to make the case. "I think we're going to run out of time," she says, "and that's what's so frustrating." As of late last week, a federal district judge had not yet ruled on Coleman's petition...
...executions in the face of unexamined new evidence is cruel and unusual punishment, in violation of the Eighth Amendment. It is a longshot gamble that the decision will go in Herrera's favor; it is an even longer shot that the decision will come down in time for Coleman to use that argument...
Given the hostility of the federal courts to multiple petitions, Coleman's lawyers might do better to train their sights on the clemency hearing. Governor Wilder, a former defense attorney, may be willing to listen where the courts are not. Beyond the discarded sheets and the condition of Coleman's clothing, there are other points that raise a reasonable doubt...