Hadley v. Caspari, 94-1510

• Decision Date: 28 September 1994
• Docket Number: No. 94-1510,94-1510
• Citation: Hadley v. Caspari, 36 F.3d 51 (8th Cir. 1994)
• Parties: Russell Bryan HADLEY, Appellant, v. Paul CASPARI, Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

Page 51

36 F.3d 51

Russell Bryan HADLEY, Appellant, v. Paul CASPARI, Appellee.

No. 94-1510.

United States Court of Appeals Eighth Circuit.

Submitted Sept. 13, 1994.

Decided Sept. 28, 1994.

Burton Newman, St. Louis, MO, argued, for appellant.

Michael Joseph Spillane, Jefferson City, MO, argued (Jeremiah W. (Jay) Nixon and Michael J. Spillane, on the brief), for appellee.

Before FAGG, Circuit Judge, HEANEY, Senior Circuit Judge, and BOWMAN, Circuit Judge.

PER CURIAM.

Russell Bryan Hadley, an inmate at the Missouri Eastern Correctional Facility in Pacific, Missouri, filed a petition for habeas corpus relief which included claims of ineffective assistance of trial counsel. See 28 U.S.C. Sec. 2254. The district court denied Hadley's request for a full evidentiary hearing and denied his petition, finding that his ineffective assistance claims were procedurally barred due to failure to raise them to the Missouri Court of Appeals. Hadley contends that the district court erred in finding these claims procedurally barred. We agree.

Claims presented in a habeas corpus petition will not be procedurally barred so long as the state appellate court has given "at least cursory consideration" to them. Kennedy v. Delo, 959 F.2d 112, 117 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 113 S.Ct. 168, 121 L.Ed.2d 116 (1992). The record shows that Hadley raised his ineffective assistance claims in his Rule 29.15 postconviction motion and that, on consolidated appeal, the Missouri Court of Appeals addressed the merits of these claims. The court stated:

We have evaluated the entire record, and find that it supports the motion court's determination that Hadley's claims of ineffective assistance of trial counsel are groundless. The motion court's conclusion that Hadley failed to sustain his burden of proving that his trial counsel was ineffective in any of the 25 claims is not clearly erroneous.

Hadley v. State, 771 S.W.2d 943, 947 (Mo.Ct.App.1989). Moreove...