Alfred Albrecht, Sr., in No. 04-9006 v. Martin Horn, Commissioner, Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, in No. 04-9005

How courts have described this case

Verbatim parenthetical descriptions written by other courts when citing this decision. Ranked by citation-network relevance.

• holding that procedural default did not bar federal habeas review of claim not raised on direct appeal during period Pennsylvania Supreme Court was applying relaxed waiver rule
• holding that evaluation of constitutionality of sentencing instructions in the context of an ineffective assistance claim amounted to an adjudication on the merits of stand-alone claim on same issue under § 2254(d)
• holding in a nearly identical context that prejudice was “very close” even though the evidence of guilt was “ample” and corroborated
• describing right of public access as “firmly rooted in our nation’s history”
• describing right of public access as “firmly rooted in our nation’s history”
• the prejudice prong of an ineffective assistance claim and the Brecht harmless error are essentially the same standard

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).