Wallace v. Kemp
Decision Date | 08 March 1984 |
Docket Number | Civ. A. No. 83-72-ATH. |
Citation | 581 F. Supp. 1471 |
Parties | Robert Lewis WALLACE, Petitioner, v. Ralph KEMP, Warden, Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Center, Respondent. |
Court | U.S. District Court — Middle District of Georgia |
Elyse Aussenberg, American Civil Liberties Union of Ga., Hyatt Legal Services, Atlanta, Ga., Risa L. Lieberwitz, Whitney Point, N.Y., for petitioner.
Mary Beth Westmoreland, Atlanta, Ga., for respondent.
Among the duties and responsibilities given United States district courts by Congress is that of considering and deciding applications of state prisoners for a writ of habeas corpus on the ground that the state prisoner "is in custody in violation of the Constitution or laws ... of the United States." 28 U.S.C. § 2254(a). This congressionally imposed duty and responsibility results in United States district courts — the trial courts of the federal court system —reviewing state criminal convictions that have already been reviewed by a Georgia trial court, a Georgia habeas court, and the state Supreme Court and found by them to be without United States Constitutional error. United States district court decisions are made by one district judge; the state trial, habeas, and appellate court decisions are made by one trial, one habeas, and seven Supreme Court judges. As a practical matter Congress has thus created a federal habeas system which requires one United States district judge to review and agree or disagree with the opinions of nine Georgia trial and appellate judges on constitutional questions. Most United States district court judges dislike their role in state prisoner habeas actions as much as state trial and appellate judges dislike the concept of one federal judge reviewing the opinions of at least nine state judges. See, Schneckloth v. Bustamonte, 412 U.S. 218, 263-64, 93 S.Ct. 2041, 2066-67, 36 L.Ed.2d 854, 884 (1973) (Powell, J., concurring). Nevertheless, until Congress changes this concept it remains for this one United States district court judge to consider this state habeas case, even though it has already been considered by one trial judge, one habeas judge, and seven Supreme Court justices (on two separate appearances) of this state and found by them to contain no United States constitutional error.
As stated by the Supreme Court of Georgia in its opinion on petitioner's appeal to that court:
Wallace v. State, 248 Ga. 255, 255-57, 282 S.E.2d 325, 328-29 (1981), cert. denied, 455 U.S. 927, 102 S.Ct. 1291, 71 L.Ed.2d 471 (1982), reh'g denied, 455 U.S. 1038, 102 S.Ct. 1743, 72 L.Ed.2d 156 (1982).
Petitioner Wallace's conviction and sentence of death have been affirmed by the Supreme Court of Georgia, and state habeas relief has been denied. Petitioner now asserts that constitutional error, unrecognized by the courts of this state, occurred at his trial and should be recognized by this United States district court.
As succinctly stated in Hance v. Zant, 696 F.2d 940, 946 (11th Cir.1983):
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