DeVault v. Griffin
- Vincent Briccetti
- 7:16-cv-07281
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 4
In DeVault v. Griffin, Judge Briccetti denied Kevin DeVault’s habeas petition challenging his guilty plea and counsel’s performance.
Kevin DeVault’s federal challenge to his state convictions was denied, and the case was closed; Thomas Griffin prevailed on the petition.
What happened
DeVault v. Griffin involved Kevin DeVault’s petition challenging his state convictions after he pleaded guilty to several sex offenses and received 25 years in prison plus 20 years of post-release supervision. He filed the petition without a lawyer.
A magistrate judge recommended denying the petition. The recommendation concluded that DeVault’s guilty plea was voluntary, knowing, and intelligent; that his claim that counsel forced the plea lacked factual support; and that his other claims about counsel were either inadequately explained, unrelated to plea voluntariness, or barred from federal review.
Judge Briccetti adopted the recommendation and denied the petition. The court entered judgment, closed the case, declined to issue a certificate allowing an appeal, and denied permission to pursue an appeal without paying filing fees.
The detailed version
- DeVault v. Griffin · No. 7:16-cv-07281
- Vincent Briccetti
- Aug. 31, 2020
Background
Kevin DeVault filed a federal petition for habeas corpus relief without a lawyer. He had been convicted in Sullivan County Supreme Court after pleading guilty to course of sexual conduct against a child in the second degree, course of sexual conduct against a child in the first degree, rape in the second degree, and incest in the second degree. He received an aggregate sentence of 25 years of imprisonment and 20 years of post-release supervision. His conviction was affirmed on appeal, and a later motion to vacate the judgment was denied.
Magistrate Judge Lisa M. Smith issued a Report and Recommendation dated January 22, 2020, recommending that the petition be denied in its entirety. Neither party objected to the recommendation.
Claims and Recommendation
The recommendation addressed DeVault’s claim that his guilty plea was not valid and his claims that trial counsel was ineffective. It found that the plea was voluntary, knowing, and intelligent. It also found that DeVault’s assertion that counsel forced him to plead guilty was unsupported by facts.
The remaining ineffective-assistance claims alleged that counsel failed to produce an expert, failed to show DeVault discovery material, failed to question evidence relating to an element of the crimes, and failed to preserve a challenge to the sufficiency of the plea proceeding. The recommendation found these claims either unexplained, unrelated to the voluntariness of the plea, or procedurally barred from federal habeas review.
Court’s Ruling
Judge Vincent L. Briccetti reviewed the recommendation and the underlying record. Because there were no objections, the court reviewed the recommendation for clear error and found none. The court adopted the Report and Recommendation as its opinion and denied the petition.
The Clerk was directed to enter judgment and close the case. The court also determined that DeVault had not made a substantial showing that a constitutional right was denied, so it declined to issue a certificate of appealability. It further certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without paying filing fees.
Read the full 4-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.