Next stop for Smith: U.S. Supreme Court
Kalvin Smith
Posted: Tuesday, March 11, 2014 9:00 pm
Attorneys for Kalvin Michael Smith, convicted in the 1995 beating
of a manager at the former Silk Plant Forest store, will take his case
to the U.S. Supreme Court after the lower court declined to reconsider
its decision to deny his appeal.
James Coleman, one of Smith’s attorneys, said in an email Tuesday that they plan to file a petition in May to the U.S. Supreme Court, asking it to review the decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit in Richmond, Va.
On Feb. 21, the appeals court denied a petition to reconsider its dismissal of Smith’s appeal. In January, a three-judge panel of that court upheld a decision by U.S. District Judge Catherine Eagles, who ruled that Smith had failed to comply with the one-year deadline required for prisoners who want to appeal their convictions in federal court.
Smith’s attorneys had asked that the full 16-judge panel review the decision.
Smith, 42, is serving up to 29 years in prison for the beating of Jill Marker on Dec. 9, 1995. The assault left Marker with traumatic brain injuries. She now lives in Ohio under 24-hour care.
Smith has maintained his innocence, and his case has become the most prominent allegation of wrongful conviction in Winston-Salem since the Darryl Hunt case. Hunt was freed in 2003 and then exonerated the next year in the 1984 murder of Deborah Sykes, a copy editor for the now-defunct afternoon paper, The Sentinel. A DNA test led law enforcement to another man, who confessed to the crime. The Winston-Salem Journal published a series of stories in 2004 about the Smith case, raising questions about the police investigation and the prosecution.
Coleman and David Pishko, also one of Smith’s attorneys, had argued in the petition before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit that Eagles was wrong in ruling that Smith could have discovered certain evidence favorable to him before the deadline, which would have been Aug. 30, 2007. Smith filed his appeal in 2010.
Coleman and Pishko argued that Smith couldn’t have found the evidence because Forsyth County prosecutors suppressed it and didn’t turn it over as they were required to do.
It wasn’t until Aug. 30, 2007, for example, that prosecutors acknowledged that Marker did not identify Smith out of a photo lineup that contained Smith’s picture during a meeting with Winston-Salem police detectives on Oct. 31, 1996, the petition said.
Forsyth County District Attorney Jim O’Neill has said that the rules of professional responsibility prevent him from commenting on pending litigation. The N.C. Attorney General’s Office is representing Forsyth County prosecutors in Smith’s appeal.
In court papers, state prosecutors have defended Smith’s conviction.
mhewlett@wsjournal.com (336) 727-7326
James Coleman, one of Smith’s attorneys, said in an email Tuesday that they plan to file a petition in May to the U.S. Supreme Court, asking it to review the decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit in Richmond, Va.
On Feb. 21, the appeals court denied a petition to reconsider its dismissal of Smith’s appeal. In January, a three-judge panel of that court upheld a decision by U.S. District Judge Catherine Eagles, who ruled that Smith had failed to comply with the one-year deadline required for prisoners who want to appeal their convictions in federal court.
Smith’s attorneys had asked that the full 16-judge panel review the decision.
Smith, 42, is serving up to 29 years in prison for the beating of Jill Marker on Dec. 9, 1995. The assault left Marker with traumatic brain injuries. She now lives in Ohio under 24-hour care.
Smith has maintained his innocence, and his case has become the most prominent allegation of wrongful conviction in Winston-Salem since the Darryl Hunt case. Hunt was freed in 2003 and then exonerated the next year in the 1984 murder of Deborah Sykes, a copy editor for the now-defunct afternoon paper, The Sentinel. A DNA test led law enforcement to another man, who confessed to the crime. The Winston-Salem Journal published a series of stories in 2004 about the Smith case, raising questions about the police investigation and the prosecution.
Coleman and David Pishko, also one of Smith’s attorneys, had argued in the petition before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit that Eagles was wrong in ruling that Smith could have discovered certain evidence favorable to him before the deadline, which would have been Aug. 30, 2007. Smith filed his appeal in 2010.
Coleman and Pishko argued that Smith couldn’t have found the evidence because Forsyth County prosecutors suppressed it and didn’t turn it over as they were required to do.
It wasn’t until Aug. 30, 2007, for example, that prosecutors acknowledged that Marker did not identify Smith out of a photo lineup that contained Smith’s picture during a meeting with Winston-Salem police detectives on Oct. 31, 1996, the petition said.
Forsyth County District Attorney Jim O’Neill has said that the rules of professional responsibility prevent him from commenting on pending litigation. The N.C. Attorney General’s Office is representing Forsyth County prosecutors in Smith’s appeal.
In court papers, state prosecutors have defended Smith’s conviction.
mhewlett@wsjournal.com (336) 727-7326
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