Gimenez v. Ochoa

Petitioner, convicted of murdering his infant daughter, appealed the district court's grant of the state's motion to dismiss his second federal habeas petition. In regard to petitioner's claims of ineffective assistance of counsel concerning errors related to the use of expert testimony, the court concluded that these claims have already been adjudicated and petitioner's new arguments failed to present a distinct claim for relief. In regard to petitioner's due process challenge based on false testimony, the court concluded that petitioner cannot obtain relief under 28 U.S.C. 2244(b)(2)(B)(ii) on the theory that the prosecution introduced false testimony at trial where he presents a battle between experts who have different opinions about how the baby died. Finally, in regard to claims based on changes in scientific knowledge, the court joined the Third Circuit in recognizing that habeas petitioners can allege a constitutional violation from the introduction of flawed expert testimony at trial if they show that the introduction of this evidence “undermined the fundamental fairness of the entire trial.” In this case, petitioner failed to show that permitting the prosecution’s experts to testify based on a triad-only theory of shaken baby syndrome (SBS) was so extremely unfair that it violated the fundamental conceptions of justice. Petitioner failed to prove by clear and convincing evidence that no reasonable factfinder would have found him guilty but for the introduction of purportedly flawed SBS testimony. Nor could petitioner obtain relief if the court were to decouple his claim of actual innocence from any due process violation and repackage it as a freestanding “actual innocence” claim. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment. View "Gimenez v. Ochoa" on Justia Law