Jay R. Thompson v. Richard Brown

Wood, Chief Judge.

Jay Thompson's efforts to obtain a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 foundered, as so many do, on procedural default-specifically, the decision of Indiana's judiciary to reject his postconviction petition under that state's laches doctrine. The state court relied on delays that took place after Thompson had filed his postconviction petition-delays for which Thompson was responsible, the state court ruled, for failing to "prosecute" his case.

But when the state court dismissed the petition there was not yet a firmly established and regularly followed rule in Indiana…