Ninth Circuit Panel: Innocence, Schminnocence. We Have Rules, You Know.
7th July 2010
A three-judge panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has rejected an Oregon man’s petition for habeas corpus relief (PDF). This despite acknowledging that the man has established actual innocence for the crimes for which he’s being imprisoned (sexual abuse and sodomy of a four-year-old). The reason: He was late filing his petition. By the panel’s reckoning, adherence to an arbitrary deadline created by legislators is a higher value than not continuing to imprison people we know to be innocent.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (the most reversed Federal Appellate Circuit in the country) is a constant disgrace.