Anthony Barnett v. Ron Neal

WOOD, Chief Judge.

For more than a decade, Anthony Barnett has been trying to set aside his Indiana convictions for felony battery, felony burglary, felony intimidation, and being a habitual criminal. He thought that he had achieved success when the federal district court issued a conditional writ of ha-beas corpus in response to his petition, but the writ promised less than he thought. It offered the state the choice between releasing him outright, or giving him a new direct appeal in the state court. A procedural snarl ensued, at the end of which the district court gave the state extra time…