The 7-2 ruling in Maples v. Thomas brings an end to a “lawyer’s nightmare” case that showed how a series of law firm mailroom and notice errors as well as the departure of two associates could nearly result in a client’s execution. In excruciating detail, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg recited the “uncommon facts” and mishaps that amounted to abandonment of convicted murderer Cory Maples by his Sullivan & Cromwell lawyers at the precise moment when Maples faced a filing deadline for his state post-conviction appeal.
“Abandoned by counsel, Maples was left unrepresented at a critical time for his state postconviction petition, and he lacked a clue of any need to protect himself pro se,” wrote Ginsburg. “In these circumstances, no just system would lay the default at Maples’ death-cell door.”
