Scott

Roger Scott, an Arizona state prisoner sentenced to death, appeals the denial of his petition for a writ of habeas corpus in federal district court. When a state prisoner files such a petition, the district court will usually not hear any claim the petitioner did not first present to the state courts. This process is referred to as the prisoner “exhausting” his state remedies. Nor will the district court decide a claim denied by a state court because the petitioner failed to follow a rule of state procedure that is both adequate and independent of federal law. To be considered “adequate,” the state rule must be one that is consistently applied by the courts of that state in the same manner it was applied to the current petitioner’s case.

The dispositive issue in this case is whether the Arizona Superior Court relied on an adequate state bar, consistently applied, by the Arizona courts when it denied Scott’s state petition for post-conviction relief. We conclude it did not. It held Arizona Rule of Criminal Procedure 32.6(d) (“Rule 32.6(d)”) prohibited Scott from filing an amendment to his previously-dismissed Arizona post-conviction petition for relief. His amendment alleged Scott…