Harrison Norris, Jr. v. United States, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 7428

Harrison Norris, a Black man, was convicted by a jury of forced prostitution (24 counts) and initially sentenced by Judge Jack Camp to a general life sentence; that life sentence was vacated on appeal and Norris was resentenced to 35 years by a different judge.
Three years after trial, Judge Camp pleaded guilty to federal offenses and disclosed bipolar disorder and a 2000 temporal-lobe injury; an investigation uncovered witness statements alleging Camp expressed racial bias against Black men who pimped white women and disparaging comments about Norris.
The government produced a recorded call in which Camp discussed strong punitive instincts toward defendants like Norris and acknowledged being "burned up" by such cases.
Norris filed a 28 U.S.C. § 2255 motion claiming his due-process right to an impartial and mentally competent judge was violated by Camp’s alleged actual bias and incompetence, and requested an evidentiary hearing.
The district court denied an evidentiary hearing, finding the alleged bias was trial error (not structural) and that the record did not support incompetence; the court granted a COA on whether the denial of a hearing was proper.
The Eleventh Circuit held that Norris alleged sufficient facts of actual judicial bias to require an evidentiary hearing, but that the incompetence claim did not warrant a hearing and was properly denied.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether trial violated due process because judge was actually biased	Camp expressed racial bias toward Black men who pimped white women and specifically disliked Norris; bias produced intolerable probability of partiality	Camp denies bias; record reflects fair conduct at trial and sentencing errors do not prove bias	Court: Allegations sufficient to require an evidentiary hearing on actual bias (structural error if proven)
Whether trial violated due process because judge was mentally incompetent	Camp’s bipolar disorder and temporal-lobe injury impaired capacity to preside, explaining sentencing error	Medical history alone and transcript do not show incompetence or incapacity to hold hearings	Court: Denial of evidentiary hearing on incompetence affirmed; allegations too generalized

Bracy v. Gramley, 520 U.S. 899 (Due process requires absence of actual bias)
Withrow v. Larkin, 421 U.S. 35 (Due process ‘‘fair trial in a fair tribunal’’ standard)
Caperton v. A.T. Massey Coal Co., 556 U.S. 868 (Risk-of-bias standard and limits on due-process recusal)
Tumey v. Ohio, 273 U.S. 510 (Historic rule on judge’s direct interest and impartiality)
Arizona v. Fulminante, 499 U.S. 279 (Structural-error framework)
Jordan v. Massachusetts, 225 U.S. 167 (Due process requires judge’s mental competence to afford a hearing)