Stewart v. Kelley

The Eighth Circuit affirmed the district court's denial of habeas relief to petitioner after he was convicted of raping an adult woman with the mental capacity of a young child and sentenced to seventy years in prison as a habitual offender. The court held that, under Arkansas law, parole-eligibility determinations by the Department of Corrections did not constitute a modification of a prison sentence. Therefore, trial counsel's deficient performance in this case did not deprive petitioner of a due process claim that Ark. Code Ann. 16-93-609(b) should not apply when the jury, court, and defendant were unaware of the Act and did not intend for the Act to apply to the judgment. Although the state court improperly instructed the jury that petitioner would be eligible for parole after serving 70% of his sentence if sentenced to a term of years, petitioner was not prejudiced under Strickland v. Washington when his trial counsel failed to correct the error. View "Stewart v. Kelley" on Justia Law