Wilson v. Sellers

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Wilson v. Sellers
Seal of the United States Supreme Court
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued October 30, 2017
Decided April 17, 2018
Full case nameMarion Wilson v. Eric Sellers, Warden
Citations584 U.S. ___ (more)
138 S. Ct. 1188; 200 L. Ed. 2d 530
Case history
PriorWilson v. Warden, 774 F.3d 671 (11th Cir. 2014); remanded on rehearing en banc, 834 F.3d 1227 (11th Cir. 2016); cert. granted, 137 S. Ct. 1203 (2017).
Subsequentpetition denied, 898 F.3d 1314 (11th Cir 2018)
Court membership
Chief Justice
John Roberts
Associate Justices
Anthony Kennedy · Clarence Thomas
Ruth Bader Ginsburg · Stephen Breyer
Samuel Alito · Sonia Sotomayor
Elena Kagan · Neil Gorsuch
Case opinions
MajorityBreyer, joined by Roberts, Kennedy, Ginsburg, Sotomayor, Kagan
DissentGorsuch, joined by Thomas, Alito
Laws applied
Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996

Wilson v. Sellers, 584 U.S. ___ (2018), is a United States Supreme Court case concerning whether a federal court sitting in a habeas corpus proceeding should "look through" a summary ruling to review the last reasoned decision by a state court.[1][2][3]

In 1997, a Georgia jury convicted Marion Wilson of murder and sentenced him to death.[4] In December 1999, the Supreme Court of Georgia affirmed on direct appeal.[5] Wilson next petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus in state court.[6] The petition was denied in a written opinion by the state superior court, which was summarily affirmed by the state supreme court, and denied review by the U.S. Supreme Court.[4]

Wilson then filed another petition for habeas corpus, now in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Georgia, which was denied.[4] In December 2014, a unanimous panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit affirmed, also rejecting Wilson's petition.[4][7] In August 2016, the full en banc Eleventh Circuit again rejected the petition by a vote of 6–5, with Circuit Judge William H. Pryor Jr. writing for the majority and Circuit Judges Adalberto Jordan and Jill A. Pryor writing dissents.[8]

The Court announced judgment in favor of the prisoner on April 17, 2018, reversing and remanding to the lower court by a vote of 6–3.[9] Justice Stephen Breyer wrote for the Court, joined by Chief Justice John Roberts, as well as Justices Anthony Kennedy, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan.[4] The Court held that the circuit had erred under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 by failing to consider the reasoning in the lower, earlier, written, state court opinion.[4] Justice Neil Gorsuch, joined by Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, dissented.[4]

In August 2018, the Eleventh Circuit again denied Wilson's petition, in another opinion by Judge Pryor.[10] Wilson was executed by lethal injection on June 20, 2019.[11]

References[]

  1. ^ "Wilson v. Sellers". LII / Legal Information Institute. 2017-10-26. Retrieved 2018-03-07.
  2. ^ "Wilson v. Sellers - Ballotpedia". Retrieved 2018-03-07.
  3. ^ "Supreme Court hears arguments in criminal procedure cases". www.jurist.org. Retrieved 2018-03-07.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Note, The Supreme Court, 2017 Term — Leading Cases, 132 Harv. L. Rev. 407 (2018)
  5. ^ Wilson v. State, 525 S.E.2d 339 (Ga. 1999).
  6. ^ Note, Patrick J. Fuster, Taming Cerberus: The Beast at AEDPA’s Gates, 84 U. Chi. L. Rev. 1325 (2017)
  7. ^ Wilson v. Warden, 774 F.3d 671 (11th Cir. 2014).
  8. ^ Wilson v. Warden, 834 F.3d 1227 (11th Cir. 2016) (en banc).
  9. ^ Vladeck, Steve (18 April 2018). "Opinion analysis: Justices reaffirm "look-through" presumption in federal habeas review of state-court decisions". SCOTUSblog. Retrieved 8 July 2019.
  10. ^ Wilson v. Warden, 898 F.3d 1314 (11th Cir. 2018).
  11. ^ Kim, Catherine (20 June 2019). "Marion Wilson was the 1,500th person executed in the US since 1976". Vox Media. Retrieved 8 July 2019.

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