Gonzalez v. Sec'y., Fla. Dept. of Corrs., No. 09-15599

Capital Habeas Matter

In Gonzalez v. Sec'y., Fla. Dept. of Corrs., No. 09-15599, a capital habeas matter, the court affirmed the denial of the petition where 1) whether or not petitioner was the "aggressor who had precipitated the shooting" was legally irrelevant to his first-degree murder conviction; and 2) the allegedly erroneous denial of petitioner's peremptory challenge presented only an issue of state law.

As the court wrote:  "Ricardo Gonzalez, a Florida prisoner on death row, appeals from the district court's denial of his petition for a writ of habeas corpus, brought pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254. In 1994, a jury found Gonzalez guilty of first-degree murder of a law enforcement officer and lesser offenses in connection with an armed bank robbery."

Related Resources

Read the Eleventh Circuit's Decision in Gonzalez v. Sec'y., Fla. Dept. of Corrs., No. 09-15599