Ferguson v. Secretary, FL Dept. of Corrections

Petitioner, seeking habeas relief, contended that he was mentally incompetent to be executed under the Supreme Court's decision in Panetti v. Quarterman. The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, 28 U.S.C. 2254, "reflects the view that habeas corpus is a guard against extreme malfunctions in the state criminal justice systems, not a substitute for ordinary error correction through appeal." The court concluded that there was no extreme malfunction in petitioner's case. The Florida Supreme Court properly applied Panetti's "rational understanding" standard, considered conflicting expert testimony about the nature and severity of petitioner's mental illness, and made a determination about his competency to be executed that was by no means beyond any possibility for fair-minded disagreement. Accordingly, AEDPA required that federal habeas relief be denied and the court affirmed that denial. View "Ferguson v. Secretary, FL Dept. of Corrections" on Justia Law