Gregory Chandler - Habeas Corpus Litigation

I studied an interesting case last week while working on a habeas corpus case. The case is Helmig v. Kemna, 461 F. 3d 960 (8th Cir. 2006). In Helmig, a man convicted in state court for murder argued that his conviction should be vacated because the jurors requested, obtained, and consulted a highway map that was not admitted into evidence.

The Eighth Circuit affirmed the dismissal of the habeas corpus petition, the Court noted that in order to be able to proffer testimony from the jurors, the petitioner had to prove that the highway map evidence was both extraneous and prejudicial.

The Court noted that the petitioner failed to prove that the map was extraneous. He provided no evidence that the highway map was conveyed to the jury from an outside source. Furthermore, the petitioner did not attempt to refute testimony that everything given to the jury had been approved by the trial judge.

GREGORY CHANDLER, Attorney at Law