Clements v. Clarke, No. 09-1629

In habeas proceedings of a defendant convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to life imprisonment, district court's conclusion that the state trial judge had impermissibly (though unintentionally) coerced a guilty verdict as a result of a series of voir dire examinations of individual jurors is reversed as the AEDPA's deferential standard of review controls in this case, and the district court employed an insufficiently deferential standard of review.     

Read Clements v. Clarke, No. 09-1629

Appellate Information

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts

Decided January 20, 2010

Judges

Before:  Torruella, Seyla and Howard, Circuit Judges

Opinion by  Torruella, Circuit Judge

Counsel

For Appellant: Randall B. Ravitz, Assistant Attorney General, Criminal Bureau, Martha Coakley, Attorney General

For Appellee:    Rosemary Curran Scapicchio