Joshua Eric Hawk Clark v. Burl Cain, Commissioner, Mississippi Department of Corrections

Under the law of Mississippi, in all civil cases, a judge performs the gatekeeping function of determining the reliability of scientific evidence before that evidence can be presented to a jury. In this criminal case, however, the Mississippi Supreme Court upheld Petitioner Joshua Clark’s conviction for murder and forty (40) year mandatory sentence, even though the trial judge had expressly declined to perform this gatekeeping function and had ruled that the issue of reliability of scientific evidence was a question for the jury. The Mississippi Supreme Court refused to hear Petitioner’s Fourteenth Amendment challenge to this discrimination. The United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi held habeas corpus relief is not available for such a claim. A single judge on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals denied a Certificate of Appealability without giving a reason. The Question Presented is as follows: Did the Court of Appeals erroneously deny Petitioner Joshua Clark a Certificate of Appealability on his Fourteenth Amendment claims even though Petitioner established that: (a) in all civil cases, a trial judge is required to act as a gatekeeper to determine the reliability of scientific evidence before that evidence can be received; (b) in Joshua Clark’s criminal case, the trial judge refused to determine reliability of scientific evidence; and (c) the evidence in Joshua Clark’s criminal case was uncontradicted that Shaken Baby Syndrome is not a scientifically reliable diagnosis?