Federal Habeas Corpus

This article addresses a defendant’s right to file a federal petition for a writ of habeas corpus from a conviction in a state court. It does not deal with a defendant’s right to file such a petition after having been convicted in a federal court.

A defendant who does not prevail on his direct appeal in state court may thereafter file a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in Federal District Court. The time limits for filing such petitions are very short. Although there are exceptions, the general rule is that such petitions must be filed within one year of the date on which the New York Court of Appeals denied leave to appeal or one year from the date on which the New York Court of Appeals rendered a decision on the defendant’s case. There is some authority which indicates that this time period is actually one year and three months. But it is better to play it safe and presume that the statute of limitations is only one year. If the defendant took a direct appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court after being rejected by the New York Court of Appeals, then, as a general rule, the deadline for filing the habeas petition is one year from the date that the Supreme Court denied permission to appeal or one year from the date on which the Supreme Court rendered a decision on an appeal to that court.

This statute of limitations period is tolled for any period of time that a properly filed and properly constituted motion pursuant to CPL 440 or a New York state petition for a writ of error Coram Nobis is pending.

There are exceptions to the above statute of limitations but many of those exceptions are very complex and judges often have difficulty comprehending them. Given the very short statute of limitations period that is involved in federal habeas litigation, the defendant would be well advised to start working on his federal habeas petition while his direct appeal in state court is still pending.

The jurisdiction of federal courts is limited to deciding federal issues. Federal courts will not address state issues. Federal issues in criminal cases usually come in the form of a claim that the defendant’s constitutional rights as enumerated in the Bill of Rights to the U.S. Constitution were violated. Therefore, since habeas petitions are filed in federal court, those petitions will only be considered to the extent that they allege a violation of the defendant’s federal constitutional rights. Furthermore, although federal courts are barred from adjudicating state issues, the reverse is not true. State courts are permitted to litigate federal constitutional issues. In fact, when a defendant raises a federal constitutional issue in state court, the state court is required to address that issue. Since state courts are required to address federal constitutional issues in the first instance, federal courts will not address a federal constitutional issue unless it was properly raised in the state court. Therefore, when a defendant is drafting his brief for an appeal to a state court, he must include all federal constitutional issues in his appellate brief that he plans on also raising in any possible future federal habeas petition. Furthermore, any leave application to the Court of Appeals must also properly reference those federal constitutional issues otherwise they will be procedurally rejected by the federal court which considers the habeas petition. In most circumstances, a leave application to the New York Court of Appeals must be filed in order for the defendant to preserve his right to file a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in Federal District Court. A leave application is a written request to the New York Court of Appeals requesting permission to appeal to that court.

A defendant may not include an argument in a federal habeas petition that references off the record facts unless the issue pertinent to those off the record facts was first raised by way of a CPL 440 motion filed in state court. Furthermore, that CPL 440 motion must reference the relevant federal constitutional right at issue in order for the defendant to preserve his right to raise that issue in a federal habeas petition.

The defendant does not preserve a federal constitutional issue in a state court by simply making a general allegation that his federal constitutional rights have been violated. To properly preserve a federal issue in state court, the defendant must either reference the particular provision of the federal Bill of Rights that is pertinent to his case or reference federal case law that discusses how the issue in his case implicates a federal constitutional right. Preferably, the defendant should do both.

overview

The federal writ of habeas corpus is available in certain circumstances to people convicted of offenses in New York State courts. In this article, Tom Theophilos explains the basics of federal habeas corpus litigation.

Certain arguments must be made in a defendant’s state appellate brief to preserve a defendant’s right to later proceed with federal habeas litigation.

Tom Theophilos has the experience and knowledge necessary to properly prepare your state appellate brief so as to preserve your federal habeas rights and to thereafter prepare a federal habeas petition for you.