WAINWRIGHT WARRANT: Florida Supreme Court denies claims
Anthony Wainwright’s execution is scheduled for June 10 at 6:00 p.m. Here's the update on pending litigation as of today.
Anthony Wainwright’s execution is scheduled for a week from today—June 10 at 6:00 p.m. Here's the update on pending litigation as of today, including the Florida Supreme Court’s opinion denying Wainwright’s appeal of the circuit court’s denial of his successive motion for postconviction relief.
Dismissed Habeas Petition
Last week, as TFDP covered, the Florida Supreme Court dismissed Wainwright’s petition for writ of habeas corpus because his lead counsel did not adopt the filing.
The filings in this case can be found on the docket here.
Postconviction Appeal
This morning, the Florida Supreme Court issued a per curiam opinion denying Wainwright’s appeal of the circuit court’s denial of his successive motion for postconviction relief and denying his motion to stay execution.
On Wainwright’s first claim under the Sixth Amendment, the Court agreed with the circuit court that the claim is procedurally barred because “Wainwright has raised this exact claim before”—i.e., after Hurst. Further, the Court determined that Erlinger does not change this analysis because “it does not apply retroactively.” The Court conducted an analysis of retroactivity under the Florida Witt analysis but put in a footnote that the case “also does not apply retroactively based on federal law.” On the Witt test, the Court determined that “Erlinger is not a development of fundamental significance under our existing retroactivity test.”
On Wainwright’s second claim of newly discovered evidence, the Court agreed with the circuit court that “the information that Wainwright relies on is not newly discovered evidence” because the expert reports “are based on preexisting studies dating years back.” The Court further agreed with the circuit court “that the alleged evidence would not be material.”
Finally, on Wainwright’s claim of of newly discovered evidence of a Brady violation, the Court agreed “with the circuit court that Wainwright failed to exercise reasonable diligence in pursuing this claim.” Further, the Court determined, “[e]ven if this claim was reasonably pursued though, the evidence presented by Wainwright is insufficient to establish a claim.”
The opinion was unanimous.
The filings in this case can be found on the docket here.
New Federal Claim
Yesterday, Wainwright filed a new claim in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida alleging a violation of his federal constitutional due process and equal protection rights. The Complaint outlines what Wainwright characterizes as shortcomings of his state postconviction counsel, Baya Harrison—the same attorney who refused to adopt his petition for writ of habeas corpus in the Florida Supreme Court (discussed here).
In the Complaint, Wainwright requests the following relief:
The full Complaint can be downloaded here.
Wainwright also filed an emergency motion for stay of execution, which can be downloaded here.
TFDP Prior Coverage of the Wainwright Warrant
My thoughts are with everyone involved in the warrant- and execution-related process.
The efforts to save this man's life has truly been a whimper.