Federal Habeas Corpus Relief Is Barred for State Prisoners' Fourth Amendment Claims
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Discusses Supreme Court case, Stone v. Powell. In Stone, respondent Lloyd Powell was convicted of murder in state court. At trial, evidence was admitted over the respondent's objection that it was the product of an illegal search and seizure. On appeal, he again raised the objection to admission of this evidence, but the state appellate court overruled it and affirmed his conviction. Thereafter, the prisoner filed an application for a writ of habeas corpus and received a hearing in federal district court under 28 U.S.C. ยง 2254 (1970). The decision in the federal district court was appealed to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The Court refused to reverse his conviction. However, the Court did not base its decision on the substantive validity of the fourth amendment claim. Instead, the Court held that a state prisoner may not be granted federal habeas corpus review of his fourth amendment claim unless he has been denied an opportunity for full and fair litigation on his claim by the state courts.