Hardy v. Maloney

The First Circuit affirmed the judgment of the district court denying the petition for a writ of habeas corpus filed by Appellant, who was serving a life sentence in a state correctional facility, holding that the state rulings challenged by Appellant were neither contrary to nor an unreasonable application of clearly established Supreme Court precedent.In 1995, Appellant was convicted by a Massachusetts jury of first degree murder. Appellant later field this petition for habeas corpus, which the district court denied. The First Circuit affirmed, holding (1) the Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) did not unreasonably reject Appellant’s arguments that the trial judge’s omission of a jury instruction requested by Appellant and the trial judge’s giving of another instruction requested by the prosecution violated his due process rights; (2) the SJC did not unreasonably reject Appellant’s argument that misconduct in the prosecutor’s closing arguments violated his due process rights; (3) the admission of statements made by non-testifying co-conspirators did not result in a fundamentally unfair trial; and (4) the SJC did not unreasonably apply Supreme Court case law in affirming the district court’s denial of Appellant’s motion for a mistrial. View "Hardy v. Maloney" on Justia Law