Miller-El v. Cockrell
After pleading not guilty, Petitioner was convicted and sentenced to death for a capital murder committed during the course of a robbery. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed and the Texas Supreme Court denied certiorari. Petitioner sought and was denied state habeas relief, and then sought federal habeas relief. The district court denied his petition and his request for a Certificate of Appealability (COA) on each of the four issues raised. The court of appeals affirmed. It held, in relevant part, (1) that it owed great deference to the state trial court's detailed findings that the prosecutor's peremptory challenges of African-American jurors were race-neutral and that Petitioner failed to present clear and convincing evidence to the contrary, and (2) that the state court's decision was not unreasonable, contrary to clearly established federal law, or debatable among jurists of reason, that courts could not resolve the issues in a different manner, and that the issue did not deserve encouragement to proceed further.
Question Presented:
Did the court of appeals err in denying Petitioner a COA and in evaluating petitioner's claim under Batson v. Kentucky?
