Murray v. Carrier

A Virginia jury convicted Clifford Carrier (defendant) of rape and abduction in 1977. Before trial, Carrier’s court-appointed counsel twice moved for discovery of the victim’s statements, which two judges reviewed in camera, found not to include exculpatory evidence, and continued to withhold from counsel. Counsel included in the notice of appeal a question of whether the trial court erred by not disclosing the statements, but in the actual petition for appeal, this error was omitted. Virginia law required that all errors be listed in the petition. A year later, Carrier filed a pro se state habeas corpus petition based on being denied due process of law by the prosecution’s withholding of the victim’s statements. The state argued Carrier was barred from raising this claim on collateral review because he failed to raise it on appeal. The district court agreed, dismissing the petition. Carrier then filed a pro se federal habeas petition again, basing it on the due-process claim. The state again moved to dismiss, arguing (1) that the failure to raise the claim on appeal was a procedural default barring federal habeas review and (2) that Carrier had not exhausted his state remedies because he could bring an ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claim. The district court dismissed the case for those reasons. Carrier appealed, and the court of appeals reversed and remanded. The Supreme Court granted certiorari.