Yesterday, the New York Law Journal had an article about a habeas denial in WDNY. Apparently, the New York Law Journal's website is no longer subscription only. Instead, they seem to be going to the other extreme and encouraging traffic by allowing readers to personalize the way the content on the site is presented. I wonder if this is a temporary experiment or permanent.
In any event, the title of the article is: "Anti-Abortion Activist's Fair Trial Claims, Habeas Bid Are Rejected." It covers the habeas denial of the petition filed by James Kopp, the anti-abortion activist who was convicted of murdering a doctor who performed abortions.
He raised a Sixth Amendment conflict-of-interest issue. It's a little interesting since the same conflicts that were not enough to disqualify the lawyer in state court were apparently the same conflicts that were used to disqualify that attorney in Kopp's federal court criminal case.
But the DJ found nothing wrong with this. According to the article, "Western District Judge Michael A. Telesca in Rochester held that any negative consequence resulting from Mr. Kopp's choice of attorneys, or his decision to grant an interview to the Buffalo News that amounted to a pretrial confession, were purely and solely the result of the defendant's own decisions."
The opinion itself can be found here. The DJ did not grant a COA.
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