Filed: May 12, 2010
Latest Update: Feb. 22, 2020
Summary: [DO NOT PUBLISH] IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT _ FILED U.S. COURT OF APPEALS No. 09-14354 ELEVENTH CIRCUIT MAY 12, 2010 Non-Argument Calendar JOHN LEY _ CLERK D. C. Docket No. 09-00140-CV-T-26-MAP WAKEENE R. BLANCHE, Petitioner-Appellant, versus SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS, ATTORNEY GENERAL, STATE OF FLORIDA, Respondents-Appellees. _ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida _ (May 12, 2010) Before MARCUS, PRYOR and
Summary: [DO NOT PUBLISH] IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT _ FILED U.S. COURT OF APPEALS No. 09-14354 ELEVENTH CIRCUIT MAY 12, 2010 Non-Argument Calendar JOHN LEY _ CLERK D. C. Docket No. 09-00140-CV-T-26-MAP WAKEENE R. BLANCHE, Petitioner-Appellant, versus SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS, ATTORNEY GENERAL, STATE OF FLORIDA, Respondents-Appellees. _ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida _ (May 12, 2010) Before MARCUS, PRYOR and A..
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[DO NOT PUBLISH]
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
________________________ FILED
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
No. 09-14354 ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
MAY 12, 2010
Non-Argument Calendar
JOHN LEY
________________________
CLERK
D. C. Docket No. 09-00140-CV-T-26-MAP
WAKEENE R. BLANCHE,
Petitioner-Appellant,
versus
SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS,
ATTORNEY GENERAL, STATE OF FLORIDA,
Respondents-Appellees.
________________________
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Middle District of Florida
_________________________
(May 12, 2010)
Before MARCUS, PRYOR and ANDERSON, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:
Wakeene R. Blanche, a Florida prisoner, appeals pro se the denial of his
petition for a writ of habeas corpus. 28 U.S.C. § 2254. We granted a certificate of
appealability on the following issue: “Whether the district court erred when it
found that Blanche failed to exhaust the issue of whether the state trial court erred
when it instructed the jury on the lesser-included offense of third-degree felony
murder.” We reverse and remand.
Whether a habeas petitioner is procedurally barred from raising a claim is a
mixed question of law and fact that we review de novo. Ogle v. Johnson,
488 F.3d
1364, 1368 (11th Cir. 2007). A state prisoner must exhaust all available state
remedies before filing a federal habeas petition. 28 U.S.C. § 2254(b)(1)(A). The
petitioner “must give the state courts one full opportunity to resolve any
constitutional issues by invoking one complete round of the State’s established
appellate review process.” O’Sullivan v. Boerckel,
526 U.S. 838, 845,
119 S. Ct.
1728, 1732 (1999). The Supreme Court has stated that a petitioner may satisfy the
exhaustion requirement “by citing in conjunction with the claim the federal source
of law on which he relies or a case deciding such a claim on federal grounds, or by
simply labeling the claim ‘federal.’” Baldwin v. Reese,
541 U.S. 27, 32,
124 S. Ct.
1347, 1351 (2004). We have explained that the Baldwin formulation “must be
applied with common sense and in light of the purpose underlying the exhaustion
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requirement: to afford the state courts a meaningful opportunity to consider
allegations of legal error without interference from the federal judiciary.” McNair
v. Campbell,
416 F.3d 1291, 1302 (11th Cir. 2005) (internal quotation marks and
alteration omitted).
The record establishes that the district court erred when it ruled that Blanche
had failed to exhaust his state remedies. Blanche argued in his initial brief on
direct appeal that the trial court erred by instructing the jury on the offense of
third-degree felony murder because his indictment charged only first-degree
murder. Blanche contended that “a jury instruction and subsequent conviction on a
crime on which Appellant was not on notice would also amount to a federal
constitutional violation as it would violate the due process clauses of the Fifth and
Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution.” Although Blanche did
not cite any case law, he identified his argument as a federal issue and cited the
Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. Blanche put
the state courts on notice that he had raised a federal claim. Although Blanche
later argued on state collateral review that he had failed to exhaust this issue, we
are not bound by that concession because it is unsupported by the record. United
States v. Linville,
228 F.3d 1330, 1331 n.2 (11th Cir. 2000). We reverse the
denial of Blanche’s petition on this ground and remand for further proceedings.
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REVERSED AND REMANDED.
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