Rose v. Lundy case brief

Rose v. Lundy case brief summary
455 U.S. 509 (1982)

CASE SYNOPSIS

Petitioner government sought review of a decision from the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. The court of appeals affirmed the district court's decision that the constitutional rights of respondent prisoner, who had filed a habeas corpus petition, had been seriously impaired by prosecutorial misconduct.

CASE FACTS
The prisoner was convicted of rape and crimes against nature. He filed a writ of habeas corpus, and the district court found that his constitutional rights had been seriously impaired by prosecutorial misconduct. The circuit court affirmed.

DISCUSSION

• The Court reversed and remanded. Because a total exhaustion rule promoted comity and did not unreasonably impair the prisoner's right to relief, a district court was required to dismiss petitions containing both unexhausted and exhausted claims. 
• Strict enforcement of the exhaustion requirement would encourage habeas petitioners to exhaust all of their claims in state court and to present the federal court with a single habeas petition. 
• Thus, it was necessary for a district court to dismiss mixed petitions, leaving the prisoner with the choice of returning to state court to exhaust his claims or of amending or resubmitting the habeas petition to present only exhausted claims to the district court.

CONCLUSION

The Court reversed and remanded the judgment of the court of appeals.

Recommended Supplements for Criminal Procedure Criminal Procedure: Examples & Explanations, Sixth Edition
Emanuel Law Outline: Criminal Procedure