[DOWNLOAD] "Ruelas v. Wolfenbarger" by Eleventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals # eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free

eBook details

Title: Ruelas v. Wolfenbarger
Author : Eleventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals
Release Date : January 08, 2009
Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
Pages : * pages
Size : 64 KB

Description

John David Ruelas pleaded guilty to "open murder" for causing his mothers death. At his "degree hearing," where a judge was to find the proper level of criminal homicide for Ruelas based on his plea, he was found guilty of second-degree murder. Ruelas has now filed a petition for a writ of federal habeas corpus, contending that his plea was not made knowingly or voluntarily and was thus unconstitutional. The district court agreed, and granted him a conditional writ of habeas corpus. Because we believe that even if his plea was involuntary any constitutional error was harmless, we REVERSE.