Will the Sixth Circuit Get a Summary Reversal in Another Habeas Case?
There was a time when the Supreme Court would reverse decisions of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in habeas cases quite regularly, often summarily. This does not happen as much as it used to, but some justices remain concerned that some of the Sixth Circuit’s judges are too quick to grant habeas relief.
Chandler v. Brown looks like a potential candidate for summary reversal at One First Street. The original Sixth Circuit panel, consisting of Judges White, Stranch, and Davis, reversed the district court’s denial of Louis Chandler’s habeas petition. The full court granted en banc review, but only to have the panel amend its initial opinion. Now, the court has denied a subsequent petition for rehearing en banc, over the dissent of four judges.
On Thursday, Judges Thapar and Murphy authored a dissent from the denial of rehearing en banc in Chandler v. Brown, joined by Judges Griffin and Readler. Here is how Thapar and Murphy summarize the case and their objections.
Louis Chandler sexually abused his eight-year-old foster daughter. At trial, she told the jury in graphic detail about how Chandler molested her. She wasn’t the first one Chandler had sexually abused. Three other victims testified about the abuse they suffered at his hands. Even Chandler’s wife corroborated his foster daughter’s claims of sexual abuse by Chandler.
So how did Chandler convince a panel of this court to grant him habeas relief? He tells us that the state trial court wrongly prohibited a different foster couple from testifying that the victim had previously made false allegations against them soon after they proposed to adopt her. According to Chandler, their testimony could have shown t
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