Arnold v. Dormire, et al., No. 10-3501 (8th Cir. 2012)
Annotate this CaseDefendant was convicted of attempted escape from confinement, kidnapping, and armed criminal action. He appealed the district court's denial of his petition for habeas corpus relief on two grounds. The court affirmed the Missouri Court of Appeals' determination that under Missouri law, defendant's trial counsel did not act unreasonably by failing to request the lesser-included offense instruction because defendant was not entitled to such an instruction. Further, even if the failure to give an instruction did constitute a violation of state law, there was no fundamental defect that resulted in a complete miscarriage of justice. The court also held that there was no evidence that the alleged systematic failure of the public defender system affected the performance of defendant's counsel. Further, any error by postconviction appellate counsel would not constitute cause to excuse defendant's procedural default. Accordingly, the court affirmed the order denying the petition.
Court Description: Prisoner case - habeas. Missouri courts's determination that Arnold was not entitled to a lesser-included offense instruction would not be second- guessed, and counsel was not ineffective for failing to request an instruction to which Arnold was not entitled; even if the failure to give such an instruction was error, it was not a fundamental defect in the proceedings because the Supreme Court has never held that there is a constitutional requirement that lesser-included offense instructions be given in noncapital cases; other claims were procedurally defaulted and Arnold's argument that his failure to present them stemmed from systemic failure of the Missouri public defender system is rejected.
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