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ODRAYE G.JONES, n/k/a Malik Allah-U-Akbar,
Petitioner-Appellant,
v.
MARGARET BRADSHAW, Warden,
Respondent-Appellee. |
Nos. 07-3766/15-4308 |
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio at Cleveland.
No. 1:03-cv-01192—David A. Katz, District Judge.
Argued: May 12, 2022
Decided and Filed: August 22, 2022
Before: MOORE, COLE, and GRIFFIN, Circuit Judges.
_________________________
OPINION
_________________________
A jury convicted petitioner Odraye Jones of capital murder. During the penalty phase,
Jones’s counsel presented testimony from a clinical psychologist who diagnosed Jones with
Antisocial Personality Disorder. The psychologist testified that Black men with this disorder
(including Jones) would commit more murders—he claimed that about one in four “African-American urban males” suffered from the disorder, and the only treatment for them was to
“throw them away, lock them up.” After hearing this testimony, the jury recommended the death
penalty. The court accepted the recommendation and sentenced Jones to death.
Jones challenged his conviction and sentence through direct appeal and post-conviction
review in Ohio’s courts, all of which affirmed the conviction and sentence. He then sought
federal habeas relief. The district court denied Jones’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus, his
proposed amendment to that petition, and a motion for relief from judgment filed pursuant to
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b). We heard argument on thirteen issues certified for appeal
from these orders and will affirm the district court’s judgment on all thirteen.
But after that argument, we issued a separate certificate of appealability for an additional
issue: whether Jones received ineffective assistance of counsel during the penalty phase because
his attorneys failed to prepare expert witnesses properly, as shown by the psychologist’s
racialized testimony. We hold that this issue is not procedurally defaulted, and that on our de
novo review of the merits, trial counsel performed ineffectively by presenting racialized
evidence during the penalty phase. Jones is entitled to a new sentencing. Accordingly, we
remand the case to the district court with instructions to issue a writ of habeas corpus vacating
Jones’s death sentence unless the State of Ohio conducts a new penalty phase proceeding within
180 days of remand. |
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PRODUCT SOLUTIONS INTERNATIONAL, INC.,
Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
ALDEZ CONTAINERS, LLC,
Defendant-Appellee. |
No. 21-2952 |
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan at Detroit.
No. 2:21-cv-11129—Bernard A. Friedman, District Judge.
Argued: June 7, 2022
Decided and Filed: August 22, 2022
Before: BATCHELDER, CLAY, and LARSEN, Circuit Judges.
_________________________
OPINION
_________________________
CLAY, Circuit Judge. Plaintiff Product Solutions International, Inc. (“PSI”) appeals the
dismissal of its complaint against Aldez Containers, LLC (“Aldez”). PSI sued Aldez and
associated parties in 2019 alleging various claims arising from a contract dispute. The district
court dismissed Aldez from that suit because PSI failed to state a claim against Aldez. In 2021,
PSI filed a second complaint solely against Aldez for the same conduct as the 2019 suit. The
district court held that the 2021 suit was barred by res judicata. We AFFIRM for the reasons set
forth below. |
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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.
LIVIU-SORIN NEDELCU,
Defendant-Appellant. |
No. 20-6328 |
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky at Lexington.
No. 5:18-cr-00081-3—Robert E. Wier, District Judge.
Argued: May 10, 2022
Decided and Filed: August 22, 2022
Before: CLAY, GRIFFIN, and WHITE, Circuit Judges.
_________________________
OPINION
_________________________
Defendant Liviu-Sorin Nedelcu pleaded guilty to RICO conspiracy. At sentencing, the
district court increased his offense level based on the section of the Sentencing Guidelines that
applies to money-laundering convictions. Nedelcu contends that this was an erroneous
application because he was not convicted of money laundering. We disagree. Because the
factual basis for Nedelcu’s plea agreement specifically established that he committed money
laundering as a predicate for his RICO conviction, the Guidelines compelled the district court to
sentence him “as if” he had been convicted of money laundering. Accordingly, we affirm the
judgment of the district court. |
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DONNA W. SHERWOOD; JEROME D. PINN; VANCE
SHERWOOD; ANTHONY BILLINGSLEY; JENNIFER PEET;
RICHARD EUGENE WILLIAMS; FRANK L. OAKBERG;
BONNIE E. OAKBERG; GERRY M. WILLIAMS; HAROLD
P. SLOVES; FELICITAS K. SLOVES; SHEILA D. BOOE;
THOMAS R. WARREN, JR.; JEFFREY G. SEE,
Plaintiffs-Appellants,
v.
TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY,
Defendant-Appellee. |
No. 21-5927 |
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee at Knoxville.
No. 3:12-cv-00156—Thomas A. Varlan, District Judge.
Argued: July 21, 2022
Decided and Filed: August 22, 2022
Before: ROGERS and KETHLEDGE, Circuit Judges, and MALONEY, District Judge.
_________________________
OPINION
_________________________
ROGERS, Circuit Judge. This appeal is the latest installment in a decade-long dispute
over the way in which the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) clears trees in the rights-of-way it
holds on the plaintiffs’ private property. The district court enjoined TVA from practicing a
particular tree-clearance practice, referred to as the “15-foot rule,” until TVA prepared an
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) as required by the National Environmental Policy Act.
At issue here is the district court’s dissolution of that injunction, which was based in part on the
court’s finding that TVA complied with the injunction by completing an EIS and, in the
alternative, on equitable grounds because the new TVA policy adopted following completion of
the EIS is different from the 15-foot rule. The injunction should not have been dissolved,
however, because the district court has not yet determined, in light of the administrative record,
whether TVA took a hard look at the environmental consequences of its action, and the agency’s
action has not been shown to be so different from the 15-foot rule as to warrant a whole new suit
to obtain judicial review. |
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