882 F.3d 978
11th Cir.2018Background
- In 1997 Green pleaded guilty in Pickens County to sodomy (Count I) and other offenses; he was sentenced as a First Offender with probation. In 1999 his probation was revoked and he was adjudicated guilty on the sodomy count, triggering Georgia's sex-offender registration requirement.
- Green was later prosecuted in Cherokee County for failure to register as a sex offender; he was convicted in 2009 after a bench trial and sentenced as a recidivist.
- After the Cherokee conviction, Green moved for a new trial arguing his 1999 sodomy conviction was invalid under Powell (Ga.) and Lawrence (U.S. Sup. Ct.), and that his trial counsel was ineffective under Strickland for failing to raise that issue in the failure-to-register proceeding.
- Georgia courts held that a direct appeal of the Cherokee failure-to-register conviction was not the proper forum to collaterally attack the Pickens sodomy conviction; Green was told to challenge the sodomy conviction separately in Pickens County (e.g., by habeas).
- Green filed a § 2254 habeas petition in federal court raising an ineffective-assistance claim based on counsel’s failure to challenge the prior sodomy conviction; the District Court entertained the underlying Lawrence challenge, found counsel ineffective, and granted relief.
- The Eleventh Circuit reversed, holding (1) Green’s Lawrence challenge to the Pickens conviction was unexhausted and not reviewable in the Cherokee habeas proceeding, and (2) under Georgia law any objection in the Cherokee court would have been futile, so Green suffered no Strickland prejudice.
Issues
| Issue | Plaintiff's Argument (Green) | Defendant's Argument (State) | Held |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whether the federal district court could adjudicate the validity of Green’s 1999 Pickens sodomy conviction in a habeas petition attacking his Cherokee failure-to-register conviction | Green: The habeas petition challenges the failure-to-register conviction and necessarily requires resolving the validity of the underlying sodomy conviction; District Court can consider it | State: The sodomy conviction challenge was unexhausted and must be pursued in Pickens County; Lackawanna bars using the later conviction habeas to attack an earlier unexhausted conviction | Held: The Lawrence challenge to the Pickens conviction was unexhausted; federal court erred to entertain it (Lackawanna applies) |
| Whether trial counsel’s failure to object to use of the Pickens sodomy conviction caused Strickland prejudice | Green: Counsel’s omission was prejudicial because the sodomy conviction was invalid under Lawrence and thus could not support the failure-to-register charge | State: Objection would have been futile under Georgia law because Cherokee court lacked authority to collateral-review the Pickens conviction on direct appeal; Green needed a separate challenge in Pickens | Held: No Strickland prejudice—under Georgia law an objection in Cherokee would have been overruled; counsel’s failure was not prejudicial |
| Whether Lackawanna’s Gideon exception permits federal review of non-Gideon constitutional defects in a prior conviction when reviewing a later conviction | Green: District Court analogized Lawrence defect to Gideon for Lackawanna’s exception | State: Lackawanna’s exception is limited to Gideon-type defects; Lawrence-based claims are not covered | Held: Lackawanna exception does not extend to Lawrence-type claims; District Court erred to rely on it |
| Whether the federal court may overturn state-court application of state law on habeas review | Green: Implicitly urged the federal court to conclude Georgia courts misapplied state law in refusing to treat Cherokee appeal as collateral review of Pickens conviction | State: Federal courts must accept state courts’ interpretations of state law; federal habeas cannot second-guess state law rulings | Held: Federal court must accept state-law determinations; it may not recharacterize Georgia procedure to find Strickland prejudice |
Key Cases Cited
- Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984) (two-part test for ineffective assistance of counsel)
- Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U.S. 558 (2003) (adult consensual same-sex sexual intimacy is protected by substantive due process)
- Powell v. State, 510 S.E.2d 18 (Ga. 1998) (Georgia sodomy statute unconstitutional as applied to private, consensual acts)
- Lackawanna County Dist. Attorney v. Coss, 532 U.S. 394 (2001) (bar on using a current conviction habeas to collaterally attack an earlier conviction except for Gideon claims)
- Custis v. United States, 511 U.S. 485 (1994) (limiting collateral attacks on prior convictions used for enhancement to Gideon-type claims)
- Estelle v. McGuire, 502 U.S. 62 (1991) (federal habeas courts must accept state courts’ interpretations of state law)