Storey v. Lumpkin

Summary

The Court denied certiorari without addressing the merits. Justice Sotomayor, writing alone in a statement respecting the denial, criticized the Fifth Circuit’s rule treating later habeas petitions asserting previously concealed prosecutorial misconduct as second or successive regardless of whether the petitioner could have known of the misconduct earlier. She argued that the rule conflicts with Panetti and rewards prosecutorial concealment, but acknowledged that the posture of Storey’s case made it a poor vehicle for review.