Brief filed: 05/23/2014
Documents
Mayes v. Premo
9th Circuit Court of Appeals; Case No. 12-35461
Prior Decision
Decision below No. 3:06-CV-6334-HU, 2012 WL 1969042 (D.Or. May 25, 2012).
Argument(s)
The Sixth Amendment constrains reviewing courts’ harmless error analysis. The majority creates an intra-circuit conflict by endorsing a harmless error analysis based on a hypothetical trial without the error and by crediting the prosecution’s evidence while ignoring its weaknesses. The majority disregards Supreme Court precedent and creates an intra-circuit split in the standards employed to evaluate whether an error was prejudicial.
Author(s)
Tarik S. Adlai, Pasadena, CA; David M. Porter, Sacramento, CA.