Appeals
At David Rice's appeal in March 1974, Judge Warren Urbom of the Federal District Court found that the police had no evidence to allow a search of his home, where they had allegedly found the dynamite. Judge Urbom also noted the inconsistencies in a Police Lieutenant's testimony about the reasons for a search warrant, and concluded "t is impossible for me to credit his testimony". He overturned Rice's conviction and ordered a new trial in which the evidence of the dynamite could not be used to corroborate the state's case. This ruling was upheld by the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in 1975.
The State of Nebraska then appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Supreme Court was in the process of ruling on a landmark case, Stone v. Powell (July 6, 1976), which in a decision taken together with Wolff v. Rice, the Court held that where states had provided opportunities for full and fair litigation of Fourth Amendment claims, the Constitution did not require the granting of federal habeas corpus relief.
As a result, David Rice had to go through state courts to decide the question of the legality of the search of his house. However, the Nebraska Supreme Court refused to hear his case on the grounds that the time limit for appealing through the state court had been exhausted.
Read more about this topic: Rice/Poindexter Case
Famous quotes containing the word appeals:
“We tried pathetic appeals to the wandering waiters, who told us “they are coming, Sir” in a soothing tone—and we tried stern remonstrance, & they then said “they are coming, Sir” in a more injured tone; & after all such appeals they retired into their dens, and hid themselves behind sideboards and dish-covers, still the chops came not. We agreed that of all virtues a waiter can display, that of a retiring disposition is quite the least desirable.”
—Lewis Carroll [Charles Lutwidge Dodgson] (1832–1898)
“It was not reason that besieged Troy; it was not reason that sent forth the Saracen from the desert to conquer the world; that inspired the crusades; that instituted the monastic orders; it was not reason that produced the Jesuits; above all, it was not reason that created the French Revolution. Man is only great when he acts from the passions; never irresistible but when he appeals to the imagination.”
—Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881)
“The poetry of heroism appeals irresistibly to those who don’t go to a war, and even more to those whom the war is making enormously wealthy. It’s always so.”
—Louis-Ferdinand Céline (1894–1961)