⚖ Oral Arguments, with Context

The Eleventh Circuit hears Lucious Boyd's challenge to his Florida death sentence. A jury convicted him in 2002 of murder, armed kidnapping and sexual battery. During jury selection, one juror mentioned juvenile trouble but did not disclose her adult felony convictions. Boyd will contend that this denied him an impartial jury. He will also challenge his lawyers' failure to object when a woman in the gallery shouted a rape accusation during the penalty phase. That accusation concerned earlier charges that had ended in acquittals, not the convictions under review. A federal judge later questioned the juror but denied his habeas petition; Boyd appeals that denial. Federal habeas corpus allows a prisoner to challenge custody that violates federal law. Exhaustion generally requires first fairly presenting the federal claim to the state courts. Once a state court has rejected the substance of a federal claim, disagreement alone is not enough for federal relief. Strickland's ineffective-assistance test generally requires objectively unreasonable lawyering and a reasonable probability of a different result without the errors.

Lucious Boyd v. Secretary, Department of Corrections (No. 19-13051) — U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, argued October 19, 2026.