WAINWRIGHT WARRANT: U.S. Supreme Court petition filed
Anthony Wainwright’s execution is scheduled for June 10 at 6:00 p.m. Yesterday, he filed a petition for writ of certiorari at the U.S. Supreme Court.
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 Wainwright’s petition for writ of certiorari filed at the U.S. Supreme Court yesterday.
Cert Petition Related to Postconviction Claims
As TFDP covered, the Florida Supreme Court affirmed the circuit court’s denial of Wainwright’s successive motion for postconviction relief last week. Yesterday, Wainwright, represented by Terri Backhus, filed a petition for writ of certiorari seeking review of the dismissal.
The petition presents the following questions:
Wainwright also filed an application for stay of execution.
NOTE: As TFDP previously covered, the Florida Supreme Court dismissed Wainwright’s separate petition for writ of habeas corpus filed by Ms. Backhus because his “lead counsel,” Baya Harrison, did not adopt the filing. (This is at issue in Wainwright’s pending federal claim, addressed below.) Notably, only Ms. Backhus signed the petition above. Mr. Harrison did not and is not listed as counsel for Wainwright at SCOTUS.
The filings in this case can be found on the Court’s docket here.
Federal Claim
As TFDP previously covered, Wainwright filed a 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 related to alleged shortcomings of his state postconviction counsel, Mr. Harrison.
On Tuesday, the State filed a motion to dismiss Wainwright’s Complaint. Shortly after, Wainwright filed an Amended Complaint. The State then filed a motion to dismiss the Amended Complaint, which argues:
All Defendants (collectively State) move to dismiss Wainwright’s 42 U.S.C. § 1983 Complaint for failure to state a claim upon which relief may be granted. Wainwright broadly alleges he was denied due process and equal protection because the Florida Supreme Court recently struck a habeas petition filed by his unauthorized pro bono counsel of choice after lead state postconviction counsel refused to adopt it. But the facts Wainwright has alleged—taken as true—do not state a violation of either the limited due process rights a capital defendant has in postconviction proceedings or equal protection. This Court should dismiss this suit.1
On Wednesday, Wainwright responded to the State’s motion to dismiss. Also Wednesday, Wainwright was granted leave to file and did file a reply to the State’s response. As of last night at 10:30 p.m., the Court’s ruling on the motion to dismiss was not yet reflected on the docket.
If the Court grants the motion to dismiss, then Wainwright will likely seek the ability to appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. If the Court denies the motion to dismiss, then the State will have to respond to the Complaint.
TFDP Prior Coverage of the Wainwright Warrant
My thoughts are with everyone involved in the warrant- and execution-related process.
Citations omitted.
Thank you for staying on top of this!
Killing people, to show that killing people is wrong is plain stupid. Further death does not bring justice. Justice is the perpetrator is locked up for their life.