Harris v. Parke

BEFORE: MERRITT and RYAN, Circuit Judges; and BROWN, Senior This pro se petitioner appeals an order of the district court which dismissed his petition for a writ of habeas corpus filed pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254. Respondent now moves to dismiss the appeal. Upon review of the record and the brief submitted by petitioner, this panel unanimously agrees that oral argument is not needed. Fed. R. App. P. 34(a). Petitioner, a Kentucky state prisoner, filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254 in the district court for the Western District of Kentucky. In support of his request for that relief, he maintained that his convictions for first degree robbery and wanton endangerment in the first degree were invalid due to: 1) the admission into evidence of a confession which he characterized as having been obtained in violation of his rights under Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (1966); 2) the prosecution's having been permitted to examine him regarding his involvement in other unrelated offenses; and 3) the exclusion of all blacks from the jury panel in his trial. Rather than addressing the merits of those claims, however, the district court determined that the petition should be dismissed as a ""mixed petition"" due to petitioner's failure to exhaust available state remedies in regard to his final argument. Upon the entry of an order to that effect, petitioner filed this appeal.