Wade v. Lockhart, 82-1369

Decision Date31 March 1982
Docket NumberNo. 82-1369,82-1369
Citation674 F.2d 721
PartiesErnest Lee WADE, Appellant, v. A. L. LOCKHART, Director, Arkansas Department of Correction, Appellee.
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

Ernest Lee Wade, pro se.

Steve Clark, Atty. Gen., and Dennis Molock, Little Rock, Ark., for appellee.

Before HEANEY, HENLEY and McMILLIAN, Circuit Judges.

HENLEY, Circuit Judge.

This state habeas action first came before us on an application for certificate of probable cause under 28 U.S.C. § 2253 which was granted by order of a single judge of this court.

Upon examination of the file and records forwarded from the district court, it appearing that the exhaustion question presented does not require further consideration and no events of decisional significance having been shown to have transpired since final decision by the district court, we proceed to summary disposition.

In September, 1978 appellant Wade, a prisoner of the State of Arkansas, was convicted of escape and by an Arkansas state court of competent jurisdiction was fined and sentenced to serve a term of ten years in prison. State appeal in forma pauperis was denied.

In February, 1979 Wade filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas raising essentially the same questions he sought to raise by his latest petition. Those are: (1) denial of his right to appeal; (2) ineffective assistance of counsel; (3) sufficiency of the evidence; and (4) conviction contrary to state law. In May, 1979 that petition was denied for failure to exhaust state remedies and petitioner's application for certificate of probable cause was denied by this court July 5, 1979 for failure to exhaust state remedies. See Misc. Case No. 79-8125.

Thereafter, and on July 20, 1979, Wade filed in the Circuit Court of Lincoln County, Arkansas his petition seeking post-conviction relief, again raising the issues hereinabove mentioned. The case here presented on appeal was initiated in the district court July 21, 1981. As of February 5, 1982 the district court found that there had been no ruling on Wade's state petition.

Wade argued in the district court, and argues here, that his effort to exhaust state remedies is futile and that the federal courts should assume jurisdiction. Notwithstanding the passage of more than two years time in which the state petition was pending without judicial action, the district court again dismissed Wade's habeas petition for failure to exhaust state remedies. In doing so, that court recognized the delay but rested upon the representation that ruling in the state court awaited filing of a brief by counsel for Wade and that...

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8 cases
  • Smith v. Wyrick, 82-0916-CV-W-1-R
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Western District of Missouri
    • March 3, 1983
    ...An order similar to that entered in Seemiller was recently entered by the Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit in Wade v. Lockhart, 674 F.2d 721 (8th Cir.1982). Wade vacated and remanded an outright dismissal of a State prisoner's habeas petition for failure to We are satisfied that the ......
  • Harris v. Kuhlman
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Eastern District of New York
    • February 5, 1985
    ...rest of us, may safely be said to evince exhaustion"); see also Pool v. Wyrick, 703 F.2d 1064, 1066 (8th Cir. 1983); Wade v. Lockhart, 674 F.2d 721, 722 (8th Cir.1982); Sapienza v. Vincent, 534 F.2d 1007, 1010 (2d Petitioner's request for habeas corpus relief is appropriate. Petitioner was ......
  • Pool v. Wyrick
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit
    • April 6, 1983
    ...the district court's judgment denying the appellant's Rule 60(b) motion and remand for further consideration. See Wade v. Lockhart, 674 F.2d 721, 722 (8th Cir.1982); Seemiller v. Wyrick, 663 F.2d 805, 807-808 (8th Cir.1981). If within ninety days from the date of this Court's opinion the st......
  • McMillan v. Chief Judge, Circuit Court of Greene County, 82-2243
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit
    • July 26, 1983
    ...Seemiller v. Circuit Court Clerk of St. Charles County, 640 F.2d 175, 176 (8th Cir.1981) (per curiam). See also Wade v. Lockhart, 674 F.2d 721, 722 (8th Cir.1982) (vacating district court's dismissal of federal habeas petition for failure to exhaust where petition was pending in state court......
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