Harris V. Champion

Plaintiffs-appellants, all of whom were convicted of felonies in Oklahoma and were represented by defendant-appellee Oklahoma Indigent Defense System (OIDS) on their direct appeals in state court, brought suit asserting habeas and civil rights claims against defendants-appellees as a result of allegedly unconstitutional delay by the state in adjudicating plaintiffs' direct criminal appeals. Plaintiffs alleged that inordinate and unjustified delay by the OIDS in filing briefs on their behalf and similar delay by the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals in adjudicating their appeals, once briefed, deprived them of their Fourteenth Amendment rights to due process and equal protection, as well as their Sixth Amendment right to the effective assistance of counsel.