Suh v. Pierce, 09-3946

Petition for habeas relief from convictions for first-degree murder and armed robbery

Suh v. Pierce, 09-3946, concerned a challenge to the district court's denial of defendant's petition for habeas relief from his conviction for first-degree murder and armed robbery.


In affirming, the court held that, although defendant has abandoned the argument that his convictions and sentences were tainted because the trial judge had an undisclosed relationship with the family of the murder victim, his claim that the due process clause requires recusal, even in the absence of any potential for actual bias, where it might appear to an outsider that the judge had an interest in the outcome of the case is procedurally defaulted because defendant never presented this theory in state court.

Related Link:

• Read the Seventh Circuit's Full Decision in Suh v. Pierce, 09-3946