Robert Edward Butler v. Howard W. Clarke, Director, Virginia Department of Corrections
1. Whether Supreme Court's decisions in Buck v. Davis 137 S.Ct. 759 (2017), Trevino v. Thaler, and Martinez v. Ryan apply retroactively to Robert Butler's case where state habeas counsel was constitutionally ineffective in failing to raise an ineffective assistance of appellate counsel claim that was defaulted in a state postconviction proceeding, and whether the state procedural bar in state habeas where counsel's failure to file a Notice of Appeal in his First Direct Appeal was not advanced by the State in District Court on collateral review was waived retroactively.
2. Whether the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals and District Court erred and abused its discretion when it denied his Appeal Rule 60(b) Motion, surrounding the new change in the law applied retroactively to Robert Butler's case?
3. Finally, whether the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals and District Court Judgments resulted in a decision that was contrary to, or involved an unreasonable application of, clearly established Federal law, as determined by the Supreme Court in Martinez v. Ryan (2012) and Trevino v. Thaler (2013)?
Whether Supreme Court decisions in Buck v. Davis, Martinez v. Ryan, and Trevino v. Thaler permit federal habeas review of ineffective assistance of appellate counsel claims that were procedurally defaulted in state post-conviction proceedings