Habeas Relief – Admissible Evidence

By: Derek Hawkins//September 13, 2021//

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Leonard Kidd v. David Gomez

Case No.: 20-2207

Officials: EASTERBROOK, RIPPLE, and KANNE, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Habeas Relief – Admissible Evidence

Twice, Petitioner Leonard Kidd voluntarily testified under oath that he murdered four people in January 1984. He is serving a life sentence for those crimes. Kidd now seeks habeas relief because the police allegedly coerced a separate confession from him on the night of the murders. We decline to grant such relief because even if the allegedly coerced confession was improperly admitted at Kidd’s trial, the admission did not have a “substantial and injurious effect or influence” on the jury’s verdict. Brecht v. Abrahamson, 507 U.S. 619, 637 (1993) (quoting Kotteakos v. United States, 328 U.S. 750, 776 (1946)). We thus affirm the decision of the district court denying Kidd’s habeas petition.

Affirmed
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Derek A Hawkins is Corporate Counsel, at Salesforce.

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