Joseph Elliott v. George Little, Acting Secretary, Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, et al.
HabeasCorpus JusticiabilityDoctri
1. Whether, in accordance with Miller-El v. Cockrell, 537 U.S. 322, 327
(2003), Petitioner made a showing that reasonable jurists would debate
whether trial counsel was ineffective under Strickland v. Washington, 466
U.S. 668 (1984), where trial counsel met with Petitioner to discuss his
capital case for the first time for less than fifteen minutes on the first day
of jury selection?
2. Whether, in accordance with Miller-El v. Cockrell, 537 U.S. 322, 327
(2003), Petitioner made a showing that reasonable jurists would debate —
in a "somewhat unsettled" area of law where the District Court remarked
that Petitioner had raised "compelling arguments" — whether Petitioner
established a Confrontation Clause violation under Williams v. Illinois,
567 U.S. 50 (2012), where the trial court admitted out-of-court statements
made by medical-examiner personnel after authorities had already
identified Petitioner as their primary suspect, and the error was not
harmless because Petitioner's conviction was otherwise based on "purely
circumstantial evidence"?
Whether trial counsel was ineffective under Strickland v. Washington where counsel met with petitioner for less than 15 minutes before trial