Larry Bell, Petitioner v. Kevin Ransom, Superintendent, State Correctional Institution at Dallas, et al.

On Feb. 24, 2020, the Supreme Court declined to hear Larry Bell's petition, which asked whether he was wrongly denied a certificate of appealability (permission to appeal) and whether his claimed actual innocence justified extra time to file under the federal deadline for challenging a conviction. Because the Court denied review, it did not decide those underlying questions.

That leaves the Third Circuit's result in place for Bell. For example, a prisoner who files late and says they are actually innocent got no new Supreme Court guidance from this case.

This Supreme Court docket action is over. The Court declined review, so there is no merits decision from the justices and the Third Circuit's result remains in place.

He asked whether he should get permission to appeal and extra time to file based on his claim of actual innocence.

Bell is directly affected because the Third Circuit's result stays in place. Other late filers got no new Supreme Court guidance from this case.

Nothing further happens in this Supreme Court docket. The justices declined review, so they will not answer the underlying questions in this case.