Sixth U.S. Circuit's Ross decision

Last Friday, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a 2005 District Court case that has become something of a legal quagmire since its beginning in 1999, and potentially isn’t too close to being over, either (Decision)


Hanna Hill was killed May 26, 1999. On May 27, 1999, Denny Ross was arrested for the crime; he was indicted on June 10th. on charges of aggravated murder, rape, kidnapping, tampering with evidence, and abuse of a corpse in the murder.

Ross’ initial trial began on September 28, 2000, but ended in a mistrial when the trial judge became convinced that the impaneled jury couldn’t be impartial because of a juror’s misconduct. A second trial in January 2001 was stopped when defense counsel’s motion to bar retrial on the grounds of double-jeopardy was granted after an evidentiary hearing. The state appealed and won a reversal in 2002. ( Decision)

Ross appealed to the Ohio Supreme Court, which declined to hear the case, after which he filed a habeas corpus petition in U.S. District Court for Northern Ohio in 2004.

The District Court first approached the problem with a magistrate judge’s issuance of a 74-page recommendation, which both Ross and the state filed objections to. District Court nonetheless followed the recommendation and granted the habeas corpus on August 22, 2005, holding that “the adjudication in the State courts ‘resulted in a decision that was contrary to, or involved an unreasonable application of, clearly established Federal law.”

Both parties appealed the District Court’s decision, as well -- which brings us to last Friday, with the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals holding that “with due regard for the principles of comity,finality and federalism that (the) Anti-terrorism & Effective Death Penalty Act is designed to serve… the court of appeals’ decision does not present an unreasonable application of clearly established federal law, and that reprosecution of (Ross) is not barred by the Double Jeopardy Clause,” thus reversing the granting of the writ of habeas corpus to Ross.

Ross’ attorneys plan to appeal the decision en banc (Article).

Ross is currently serving a 25-year prison sentence after being convicted of rape in another case in 2005.