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Virgil Robert Uplinger v. Carl White
Citations: 16 F.3d 1229; 1994 U.S. App. LEXIS 8640; 1994 WL 35370Docket: 93-2262
Court: Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit; February 9, 1994; Federal Appellate Court
Virgil Robert Uplinger, a Missouri inmate, appealed the dismissal of his petition for a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. Sec. 2254, following a guilty plea in 1989 to two counts of selling marijuana, which resulted in concurrent fifteen-year sentences. Uplinger claimed his plea was not knowing or voluntary and that he received ineffective assistance from his counsel. Specifically, he alleged coercion into the plea bargain, lack of mental capacity to make informed decisions, and failure of his counsel to file important pre-trial motions, including for psychiatric evaluation. The State contended that Uplinger had procedurally defaulted all but his last claim, which was found to lack merit. The district court denied Uplinger's petition, reasoning that his statements during the plea hearing contradicted his claims, he did not prove mental impairment, and his counsel's strategies did not amount to ineffective assistance. On appeal, Uplinger argued the court erred in denying his claims of ineffective assistance of counsel. The State maintained that these claims were not reviewable due to procedural default. The court noted that procedural default occurs unless the petitioner shows cause and prejudice or a fundamental miscarriage of justice, neither of which Uplinger demonstrated. Uplinger raised specific claims for the first time on appeal, which were not presented at earlier judicial stages, resulting in a procedural bar against federal review of those claims. Ultimately, the Eighth Circuit affirmed the district court's judgment, upholding the dismissal of Uplinger's habeas petition.