Title

Role of certain individuals

Reasoning

Rowing Against the

Tidewater

Article looks at how threejudge panels reach a verdict

on a post-conviction case

Methodical logic used as a

group, or issue voting, is a
better method than outcome
voting, where each judge makes
a decision and then comes back
to the group for collaboration

A Broken System

Emphasis more on
cumulative effect of errors
made in capital cases that led
to post-conviction relief

Facing Death Alone

Examination of attorneys as
they act in post-conviction
representation for petitioners
on death row

Misbehaving Prosecutor

Calculated look at how

prosecutorial misconduct
stems from the prosecutors
perceived benefits and costs.

The high costs of criminal and

more specifically capital cases
and trials in the post-conviction
stage of petitioning acts as a
deterrent for even letting cases
continue through the system.
Attorneys make a key
difference not only during trial,
but also after, in the case of
post-conviction petitions. In
both cases, attorneys are part of
the constitutional right to
effective assistance of counsel
An economic analysis of
possible causes for
prosecutorial misconduct
reveals that low-level
prosecutors seek to maximize
professional gains.

Figure 1

Description of post-conviction
process
A three-judge panel has
jurisdiction over postconviction cases depending on
each individual case. The
method of thinking determines
the final disposition of the case
and reasoning applied to other
cases.
Post-conviction is one of the
few options left for detainees
facing execution as a result of
error, and even then, few
petitioners are granted relief.
Post-conviction relief is seen as
somewhat unattainable, given
its difficult to find an attorney
to take a petitioner through the
process, let alone do so
successfully.
Although this article only
briefly examines the postconviction process and the role
of prosecutors, it definitely
affirms how they impact the
system before and after the
initial trial.

In line with Courthouse

observations?
Judge Tucker informed me
in an interview that the
Courthouse uses issue voting
rather than outcome voting
when an appeal or postconviction requires a panel

Consistent with what Ive

heard from Magistrate
Weathersbee and Judge
Tucker as to how postconviction petitions are a
sort of last resort for inmates
Ive never heard of a
shortage of attorneys willing
to file and fight for a
petitioners post-conviction
relief in any of the
interviews conducted, but it
makes sense.
Prosecutorial misconduct
came up briefly in one of my
interviews, and it was also
mentioned in one of the
episodes of Serial as a rare
but real occurrence.