Rhines v. Young
The application for stay of execution of sentence of death presented to JUSTICE GORSUCH and by him referred to the Court is denied. The petition for a writ of certiorari is denied. Statement of JUSTICE SOTOMAYOR respecting the denial of certiorari. In 1993, a South Dakota jury sentenced petitioner Charles Rhines to death for murdering his co-worker. In order to assist them in preparing a state clemency application, Rhines’ federal habeas attorneys retained medical experts to evaluate Rhines. State officials, as well as a state court, refused to grant the experts access to Rhines in prison. The Federal District Court below also denied Rhines’ request for access. It reasoned, among other things, that the federal public defender statute, 18 U. S. C. §3599, did not give it authority to “supervise or control a state’s clemency process” and that South Dakota did not violate Rhines’ due process rights by denying his experts access to the prison.