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Abu-Ali Abdur'Rahman v. Ricky Bell November 6, 2002 (01-9094) return to case listing Case Summary Petitioner Abdur'Rahman was convicted of first-degree murder, assault with intent to commit murder and armed robbery in 1987 and was sentenced to death. His conviction and sentence were upheld on direct appeal. Petitioner then petitioned for a writ of federal habeas corpus in federal district court and a stay of execution was granted. The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals overruled this decision. Neither court considered his prosecutorial misconduct claims because they had not been appealed to the Tennessee Supreme Court and thus were held not to be exhausted for purposes of 28 U.S.C. § 2254 (c). At that point, in 2001, Abdur'Rahman had exhausted all available recourse and a new execution date was to be set. In the meantime, however, the Tennessee Supreme Court adopted a new rule which stated that a litigant was not required to appeal to the Tennessee Supreme Court in order to have exhausted all state remedies. In light of this legal development, Petitioner sought to pursue the prosecutorial misconduct claims that the federal court had earlier held to be unexhausted. Both the district court and the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals held that hearing those claims would constitute a prohibited second consideration of a habeas corpus petition and dismissed petitioner's claims. PREDICTED OUTCOME ACTUAL OUTCOME Forecasting Model Expert One Expert Two Expert Three 6-3 to Reverse 5-4 to Affirm 6-3 to Affirm 7-2 to Reverse Dismissed VOTING TO REVERSE Stevens O'Connor Scalia Souter Ginsburg Breyer Stevens Souter Ginsburg Breyer Stevens Souter Ginsburg Rehnquist Stevens O'Connor Kennedy Souter Ginsburg Breyer Dismissed as improvidently granted. VOTING TO AFFIRM Rehnquist Kennedy Thomas Rehnquist O'Connor Scalia Kennedy Thomas Rehnquist O'Connor Scalia Kennedy Thomas Breyer Scalia Thomas   return to case listing