Around the time that I did my global update to the Pending Second Circuit Cases page, I added another case to the page. The name of the case is Bell v. Ercole.
I have blogged about the case before. Back in March 2010, the Second Circuit issued a summary order that remanded the case to the district court. As I said in the prior post, the Second Circuit was "unsatisfied" with the district court's analysis in its order denying the evidentiary rulings. The Second Circuit stated that it found it very hard to review the decision and it wanted the court's reasoning to be stated more explicitly to allow for appellate review.
The DJ has finally issued the order seeking to clarify things. It's a really long and ornery opinion. The DJ clearly was not happy that he had to make his reasoning more clear. At various times in his opinion, he criticizes the remand order. And, while I expressed a hope that maybe, on remand, the DJ would reconsider the habeas denial, that didn't happen.
Now the case is sent back to the Second Circuit. I am guessing that the case probably should go back to the same panel. I would think that further briefing will be necessary. But I am not sure whether there will be another oral argument. For this reason, I have put the case in the "Argued" section of the page. I am not going to give periodic updates on the case because it is a pre-2010 docket number, so it will be relatively costly to keep looking at the docket sheet ($0.80 as opposed to $0.16 for the post-2010 docket sheet). If I see it pop up on the calendar, I will add the info. Otherwise, I will just wait for the decision.
Here are the details on the case:
Bell v. Ercole, 08-3539-pr
- Status: Request to Restore Case to Panel
- Panel: Leval, Straub, Wesley
- Prior Decision: Summary Order Remanding Case
- Issues: Juror misconduct; evidentiary rulings; prosecutorial misconduct; harmless error
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