Jerome White v. Salvador A. Godinez

This matter is before the court on remand from the Supreme Court of the United States. The Supreme Court has directed that we reevaluate our decision in light of its holding in O’Sullivan v. Boerckel, 526 U.S. —, 119 S.Ct. 1728, 144 L.Ed.2d 1 (1999). See Godinez v. White, 526 U.S. —, 119 S.Ct. 2335, 144 L.Ed.2d 233 (1999).

In Boerckel, the Supreme Court held that failure to pursue a discretionary appeal to the highest court of the state constitutes a procedural default that bars resort to federal habeas corpus relief. Although Boerckel involved a criminal matter on direct appeal, we do not…