Denial of Habeas Petition in Capital Murder Case Affirmed, and Immigration Matter

In Alston v. Dept. of Corrs., No. 09-15137, a capital habeas matter, the Eleventh Circuit affirmed the district court's denial of petitioner's habeas petition, on the grounds that the district court did not err in finding that the state court's ruling that petitioner was competent to waive his post-conviction proceedings and that the waiver was knowing, intelligent, and voluntary was neither an unreasonable application of clearly established federal law nor an unreasonable determination of the facts in light of the evidence presented in the state court proceedings.

Alvarado v. US Atty. Gen., No. 09-11376, involved a petition for review of the BIA's final order of removal affirming the Immigration Judge's ("IJ") decision to deny petitioners the opportunity to apply for voluntary departure pursuant to Immigration and Nationality Act section 240B(b)(1).  The court of appeals granted the petition, holding that the IJ and the BIA misinterpreted the phrase "at the conclusion of a proceeding" in a way that improperly denied petitioners the opportunity the statute provided them to request voluntary departure.

Related Resources

• Full Text of Alston v. Dept. of Corrs., No. 09-15137
• Full Text of Alvarado v. US Atty. Gen., No. 09-11376