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151466P.pdf 11/24/2015 Donald Nash v. Terry Russell
U.S. Court of Appeals Case No: 15-1466
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri - St. Louis
[PUBLISHED] [Melloy, Author, with Murphy and Smith, Circuit Judges]
Prisoner case - Habeas. The Missouri Supreme Court's conclusion that
Nash's murder conviction was supported by substantial evidence is neither
incorrect nor unreasonable; Nash's claim that his Sixth Amendment right to
present a complete defense was violated when the trial court excluded
evidence of a third-party's fingerprints under Missouri's "direct
connection rule" was proceduraly barred; with respect to Nash's actual
innocence as a gateway claim under Schlup v. Delo, 513 U.S. 298 (1995),
the evidence Nash sought to assert was not new and even with the evidence,
a reasonable jury could find Nash guilty; without weighing the merits,
state court would be a more appropriate forum for Nash's new DNA evidence.