State Appeals
Coleman's initial appeal to the Virginia Supreme Court was denied, and the Supreme Court of the United States denied certiorari. Coleman then filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the Circuit Court for Buchanan County, raising several federal constitutional claims for the first time. A two day evidentiary hearing was held, the court denied all of Coleman's claims, and on September 4, 1986, the court entered its final judgment.
Coleman next appealed to the Virginia Supreme Court, but this appeal was dismissed on the motion of the Commonwealth because his notice of appeal was not filed timely. Virginia Supreme Court Rules require that a notice of appeal be filed within 30 days of entry of the final judgment; Coleman's notice of appeal was filed on October 7, which was 33 days after the circuit court entered its judgment.
Read more about this topic: Roger Keith Coleman
Famous quotes containing the words state and/or appeals:
“But is it not the fact that religion emanates from the nature, from the moral state of the individual? Is it not therefore true that unless the nature be completely exercised, the moral state harmonised, the religion cannot be healthy?”
—Harriet Martineau (1802–1876)
“The values to which the conservative appeals are inevitably caricatured by the individuals designated to put them into practice.”
—Harold Rosenberg (1906–1978)