Ozzie Batchelor v. Hoyt C. Cupp, Superintendent, Oregon State Penitentiary, James Redden, Solicitor General, Walter L. Barr

Ozzie Batchelor, an Oregon state prisoner, appeals the denial of his petition for a writ of habeas corpus. The appeal presents a question raised by a large number of habeas appeals from Oregon — whether a petitioner’s failure to seek review in the Oregon Supreme Court bars federal review of the merits of the prisoner’s federal constitutional claims.

It appears that the prisoner’s default results from an informal arrangement by which Oregon public defenders have not sought review of their clients’ cases beyond the Oregon Court of Appeals. The Oregon Attorney General has been routinely conceding that state remedies have been exhausted. Although we disapprove of this arrangement, we conclude that we are obligated to reach the merits of the federal claims in this case because no state remedies are available to Batchelor.

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Batchelor was convicted in Multnomah County Circuit Court of first degree felony murder and burglary and sentenced to life imprisonment. The Oregon Court of Appeals reversed the burglary conviction but affirmed the felony murder conviction. State v. Batchelor, 34 Or.App. 47 , 578 P.2d 409 (1978). Batchelor did not seek review in the Oregon Supreme…