Lost appeal rights
Leonard Earl Brown v. Mississippi
In brief
- Where it stands
- Petition Pending
Awaiting an order on the petition
- What it’s about
- Leonard Earl Brown has filed a petition asking whether a Mississippi court may use a post-conviction deadline to reject his claim that counsel failed to file a requested direct appeal, and whether due process requires a hearing on that claim.
- What's at stake
- Brown is seeking a chance to have a court review his claim and hold a hearing about his lawyer’s alleged failure to file the appeal he requested.
Summary: written with AI from the case record.
What it's about
Mississippi has a time limit for filing claims after conviction, and Brown challenges using it to block a claim about an appeal his lawyer allegedly failed to file.
Question presented
1. Whether the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments permit a state court to refuse consideration of a prisoner's claim that counsel failed to perfect a requested direct appeal, thereby depriving the prisoner of his first appeal as of right, solely because the claim is asserted outside a state post-conviction limitations period? 2. Whether a state court may apply a procedural time bar to foreclose review of a claim that attorney abandonment caused the loss of appellate rights, notwithstanding this Court's decisions recognizing the constitutional significance of attorney abandonment and equitable tolling? 3. Whether due process requires an evidentiary hearing where a prisoner alleges that counsel promised to file an appeal, failed to do so, and thereby caused the forfeiture of appellate review, and where those allegations are not conclusively refuted by the record? 4. Whether this case presents a recurring question of national importance?
What happens next
The Court must decide whether to hear the petition. No oral argument or decision date is set.
Documents
Docket activity
New analysis added
AI analysis generated: Case Briefing
Case data updated: summary, question_presented, generation_metadata
Case data updated: question_presented, extraction_metadata
Brief added: Petition
More questions
- Why does Brown say he should get a hearing?
- Brown alleges his lawyer promised to file an appeal but did not; he argues a hearing is required because the record does not conclusively disprove his claim.
Sources
Primary materials from the Court and the parties. Grounded in docket records and cited sources. Official filings and opinions remain authoritative.