Lambert v. Beard

633 F.3d 126, 2011 WL 353209

Opinion

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT

____________

No. 07-9005

____________

JAMES LAMBERT,

Appellant

v.

JEFFREY BEARD, COMMISSIONER, PENNSYLVANIA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS; WILLIAM STRICKMAN, III, SUPERINTENDENT OF THE STATE CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION AT GREENE; THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY OF THE COUNTY OF PHILADELPHIA; THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA

____________

APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA (D.C. Civil No. 02-cv-09034)

District Judge: Honorable Michael M. Baylson

____________

ORDER

____________

Appellant James Lambert has been under sentence of death since 1984, during which time the case has wended its way through the state and federal courts. On September 30, 2010, this Court heard argument on Lambert’s appeal from the District Court’s denial of his petition for habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254, an appeal that challenges the District Court’s disposition of the various contentions Lambert raised as to both his conviction for first degree murder and the sentence of death imposed thereon.

Unless there is a prior disposition of this case, an Opinion of this Court will issue in due course addressing the contentions raised to the conviction itself and whether the judgment of the District Court as to the conviction should be affirmed. This Court, however, having concluded that, whether reviewed de novo or under AEDPA’s deferential standard of review, the District Court erred in finding that there had not been a violation of the rule of Mills v. Maryland, 486 U.S. 367 (1988).

IT is, therefore, on this 23rd day of November 2010 ORDERED that the sentence of death be and hereby is VACATED and, pending further order of this Court, any conditions and/or disabilities to which petitioner is being subjected because of the sentence of death, including but not limited to, being housed other than in the general population, be lifted.

/s/ Maryanne Trump Barry

Circuit Judge A True Copy :

Marcia M . Waldron, Clerk Dated: November 23, 2010 nmr/cc: Thomas W. Dolgenos, Esq.

Joshua S. Goldwert, Esq.

Stuart B. Lev, Esq.

Daniel Silverman, Esq.