Seen some stuff recently about lawyers who have done work on habeas cases. I have also seen a post about a judge who hasn't really done any work on habeas cases.
On the lawyer side, a few weeks ago, the St. Louis Beacon had a profile of an attorney who has worked on habeas matters: "Lawyer Sean O'Brien champions the wrongly convicted." The article says that Mr. O'Brien is a "criminal defense lawyer with a national reputation, O'Brien could have no shortage of clients. For more than 20 years, he has worked to get innocent people out of prison. And he has successfully argued to reduce the sentences of some on death row." One recent victory was in the case of Dale Helmig. According to the article:
Helmig had been convicted in 1996 of murdering his mother, Norma Dean Helmig. Beginning in 1998, after he agreed to take Helmig's case, O'Brien argued post-conviction appeals and habeas corpus claims in state and federal courts in Hermann, Jefferson City, Kansas City, Maysville and St. Louis. Finally a judge ruled last year that Helmig was innocent, had not received a fair trial and should be set free.
Yesterday, I read about the passing of a Philadelphia lawyer, Maureen Rowley, who was a long-time public defender and created the capital habeas unit at the federal defenders' office in Philadelphia. The obituary in the Philadelphia Inquirer/Daily News was called: Maureen Rowley, 57, defender of justice. It's a really nice article. UPDATE: Another article about her can be found here.
On the judge side, I have written about Judge Percy Anderson before (he is the judge who has sat for years on R&R's that recommend a grant of habeas), but his name came up again in a post at a website called allgov.com entitled, "Most Unpopular Judges in the United States." Apparently, he has received the most negative ratings on the site The Robing Room, where attorneys can post anonymous complaints about judges. Personally, I try to stay away from that site. There's something about it that just doesn't feel right to me.
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