Lawrence v. Florida

Lawrence, a convicted murder, sued the state of Florida for a writ of habeas corpus. Lawrence claimed that there were 13 counts of ineffective assistance of appellate counsel. Lawrence had been convicted by the state of first-degree premeditated murder, and he was then sentenced to death. Following his sentencing, Lawrence went through the appeal process, exhausting all his appeals as well as post conviction relief in the state courts. It was at this time that Lawrence petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus with the federal court.

Lawrence was not satisfied when the district court dismissed his petition because the court believed that it was barred by the one-year statute of limitations according to the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act. In addition, the United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit, agreed with the district court stating that Lawrence had no exemption from the statute of limitations.

The court effectively ruled that the statute of limitations had run out while Lawrence had waited for the Supreme Court's decision on an earlier petition. The court also denied the petition because Lawrence was not able to prove that there were extraordinary circumstances that applied to his situation. Lawrence did not give up, stating that the statute of limitations should not have continued while he waited to see if the Supreme Court would hear his case. Lawrence also blamed his lawyer, stating that he did not fully understand the statute of limitations and related laws, which did not allow his lawyer to advise him on his best move, and with the proper filings, his lawyer could have stopped the statute of limitations from expiring.

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