On the crucial day of his Missouri murder trial in 1994, Remon Lee’s alibi witnesses failed to show up in court. The judge, who said he needed to visit his daughter at a hospital the next day, denied Lee’s request for a continuance.
Lee was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison. Ever since, he has waged a sometimes pro se battle against the conviction in state and federal courts, a battle that was unsuccessful every step of the way – until yesterday. In a rare expansion of federal review of state convictions, the U.S. Supreme Court yesterday ruled that Lee was entitled to federal habeas corpus review of the judge’s decision to deny the continuance.
