Benjamin Barry Kramer v. United States, 7th Circuit Court of Appeals No. 14-3049, 8/17/15 Sticking with its decision in Suggs v. United States, 705 F.3d 279 (7th Cir. 2013), the Seventh Circuit holds that Kramer’s most recent habeas petition challenging a conviction that was not affected by his three previous petitions is a second or… Read more
4. Procedure
Andre Jackson v. Marc Clements, 7th Circuit Court of Appeals No. 15-1145, 8/12/15 Jackson’s habeas petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2241 challenging his extradition from Illinois to Wisconsin became moot once he was convicted in Wisconsin of the charges for which he was extradited. The appropriate vehicle for a state pre-trial detainee to challenge his… Read more
Humberto Sanchez-Rengifo v. J.F. Caraway, 7th Circuit Court of Appeals Case No. 14-2876, 8/14/15 Sanchez-Rengifo sought relief from his conviction for sexual assault by filing a habeas petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2241 arguing the evidence was insufficient to prove his guilt. The district court dismissed the petition on the grounds that the petition should… Read more
Renardo Carter v. Timothy Douma, 7th Circuit Court of Appeals No. 13-3312, 8/6/15 Carter’s trial counsel failed to object to a police officer’s testimony about the hearsay statements of a confidential informant who said Carter was involved in drug dealing. While the Wisconsin Court of Appeals reasonably concluded that the failure to object didn’t prejudice Carter, the Seventh… Read more
Benjamin Price v. United States, 7th Circuit Court of Appeals No. 15-2427, 8/4/15 Price seeks to bring a successive collateral attack under 28 U.S.C. § 2244(b)(3) to the enhancement of his sentence under the Armed Career Criminal Act. He claims that Johnson v. United States, 135 S. Ct. 2551 (2015), which held that the imposition of an enhanced sentence under the residual… Read more
Laderian McGhee v. Michael A. Dittmann, 7th Circuit Court of Appeals No. 14-1763, 7/22/15 The Wisconsin Court of Appeals reasonably applied federal law in rejecting McGhee’s claim that he was denied the right to self-representation under Faretta v. California, 422 U.S. 806 (1975). McGhee tried to discharge his trial lawyer on the morning of trial… Read more
Cory M. Welch v. Randall Hepp, 7th Circuit Court of Appeals No. 14-1164, 7/14/15 The Wisconsin Court of Appeals rejected Welch’s claim that he was denied a fair trial because of two improper comments by two witnesses. His habeas petition was denied by the district court, and the Seventh Circuit affirms, holding Welch has not shown that… Read more
Robert Gacho v. Kim Butler, 7th Circuit Court of Appeals No. 13-3911, 7/2/15 The dismissal of Gacho’s habeas petition without prejudice to refiling makes the dismissal order non-final; because the court of appeals’ jurisdiction extends only to final orders, his appeal is dismissed. Gacho’s state postconviction proceedings have been ongoing since 1991. (He is challenging his… Read more
