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In other words, Schexnayder’s appeal fell victim to a sham proceeding that the appellate court had countenanced for 13 years. Instead, nearly 300 appeals written by prisoners were reviewed by staff members within the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal and were automatically rejected using one of 15 pre-written legal justifications for the rejection.
#Fifth circuit court of appeals louisiana pro#
What Schexnayder did not know was that pro se appeals - that is, when defendants represent themselves - did not at that time get reviewed by a duly-sworn, impartial judge. Schexnayder was just another defendant convicted of a violent crime in Louisiana whose case was quickly processed through a justice system in which judicial misconduct has in the past been excused or simply ignored.īut here the story takes a turn. There was, at that point, nothing remarkable about his story. Each was quickly rejected by Louisiana’s appellate courts with barely any explanation. Representing himself back in 1998, Schexnayder on appeal cited at least nine reasons why his conviction should be overturned. Two jurors voted to acquit Schexnayder, but the state’s non-unanimous jury rule in place at the time doomed him to a life sentence without parole.
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Louis Schexnayder unsuccessfully asked the Supreme Court to rescue him from a life sentence in Louisiana.