Willard Hall v. F. Haws

I agree with the majority that this case is “rare and extraordinary” but not for the reasons it cites. What is extraordinary is that this court repeats the error of Sherrors v. Woodford, 425 Fed.Appx. 617 (9th Cir. 2011), which granted the habeas petition of Hall’s co-defendant Ronnie Sher-rors based on the same supposed instructional error, even in the face of additional facts demonstrating that Sherrors was wrongly decided. Sherrors was retried without the suspect instruction and, unsurprisingly, was again convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to life imprisonment without the…