ARIZONA FEDERAL HABEAS ATTORNEY

28 U.S.C. § § 2254 and 2255 are the federal habeas statutes found in the United States Code.  28 U.S.C. § 2254 applies to defendants who were prosecuted and sentenced by the State of Arizona while 28 U.S.C. § 2255 applies to defendants who were prosecuted and sentenced by the federal government.  28 U.S.C. § 2254 provides that a state prisoner may file a petition for federal habeas corpus only on the ground that he is in custody in violation of the Constitution or laws or treaties of the United States. 28 U.S.C. § 2255 provides that a federal prisoner may file a petition for federal habeas corpus by claiming the right to be released because the sentence imposed violated the U.S. Constitution or U.S. law, the court lacked jurisdiction to impose the sentence, the sentence was in excess of the maximum authorized by law or is otherwise subject to collateral attack.  State and federal prisoners must first exhaust their appeals before they can file a petition for federal habeas relief. The petition must be filed within one year of the date that the judgment of conviction becomes final.

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A petition for federal habeas corpus is a unique combination of civil and criminal law.  A federal habeas proceeding is civil in nature and is assigned a civil case number.  The application for federal habeas corpus consists of an approved form that is filled out by the defendant or his attorney and is served on the State or Federal government by the federal district court clerk.  The legal arguments in the petition for federal habeas corpus are largely based on the relevant criminal rules, statutes, and cases.

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Federal habeas claims and arguments are not always immediately obvious.  They often require out-of-the-box thinking and analysis.  They are usually factually complex because of the many state or federal proceedings that occurred that have to be analyzed according to the relevant cases.

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The State or U.S. Attorney files an answer responding to the petition for federal habeas corpus.  They have several affirmative defenses available that they may argue whether they apply or not:

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• Petitioner is not “in custody” according to the federal statute:

• Petitioner’s claims are not cognizable in federal habeas;

• Petitioner’s claims are not timely filed under the federal statute;

• Petitioner is not entitled to equitable tolling if his petition was not timely filed;

• Petitioner is not entitled to the fundamental miscarriage-of-justice exception if his petition was not timely filed

 

Preparing and filing a federal habeas petition is a complex process.  Lisa is an experienced, passionate, and detail-oriented federal habeas petition attorney.  Please call LisaLaw, LLC or fill out the online form for a free case review.