Rodney Young Anderson v. Lorie Davis, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division

The district court applied an incorrect standard of deferential review to the Texas court’s unreasonable decision on the evidence adduced at the state writ of habeas corpus hearing instead of reviewing the record de novo and decide the merits of the federal writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. 2254(d)(1) and (e)(2). The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in a petition for discretionary review held that alleged drug evidence that was combined with rocks and dirt after Petitioner was arrested could be used to convict and sentence him for the full weight of that combination in violation of due process. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals declined to hear an application for a certificate of appealability and dismissed Petitioner’s appeal, even though Petitioner filed a timely notice of appeal within his application for certificate of appealability in the district court consistent with Fifth Circuit precedent. This court action, deemed by the Fifth Circuit to be an administrative action the Petitioner could not have anticipated, left the Petitioner without a review of his correct actions and denied him due process.