Jordan v. State

Summary

The Mississippi Supreme Court denied Kelvin Jordan’s successive petition for post-conviction relief challenging his capital-murder convictions and death sentences. The court held that his claims concerning trial counsel’s effectiveness, sentence proportionality, and evidentiary rulings were barred as untimely, successive, or barred by res judicata. The court also held that his current counsel could not assert a claim alleging her own ineffective assistance in Jordan’s prior post-conviction proceedings.

Holdings

1. Jordan's renewed ineffective-assistance claim against trial counsel was barred because the same issue had been raised and rejected in his first post-conviction proceeding and any claim against counsel was also untimely.
2. Jordan's current counsel could not proceed with a claim alleging that she herself had rendered ineffective assistance during Jordan's earlier post-conviction proceedings.
3. Jordan's renewed challenge to the proportionality of his death sentences was barred by res judicata.
4. Jordan's claims concerning evidentiary rulings at trial remained procedurally barred because they had been raised and rejected in the first post-conviction proceeding and were also subject to the time and successive-petition bars.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Jordan's renewed ineffective-assistance claims against trial counsel were barred as successive, untimely, and res judicata because the same claim had been raised and rejected in his first post-conviction proceeding.
2. Whether Jordan's current post-conviction counsel could assert a claim that the same attorney had been constitutionally ineffective during Jordan's earlier post-conviction proceedings.
3. Whether Jordan's renewed challenge to the proportionality of his death sentences was barred by res judicata and applicable post-conviction procedural bars.
4. Whether Jordan's claims concerning evidentiary rulings at trial were barred because they had previously been raised and rejected and because they were untimely or successive.

Disposition

writ_denied