Fifth Circuit Reverses Course, Denies Habeas to Mississippi Man

The Fifth Circuit flipped its previous decision, denying a writ of habeas corpus to a man sentenced to life imprisonment who waited 1,233 days to be tried.

The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed a district court’s denial of Brian Scott Berryman’s petition, according to an unpublished per curiam opinion without further explanation. A majority with the Fifth Circuit’s three-judge panel previously reversed the district court’s denial of habeas relief in October.

The ruling came after the appeals court granted a motion for a rehearing en banc, made by the superintendent of the correctional facility where Berryman ...