Trammell v. Williams

Issue: Whether the court of appeals exceeded its authority to grant a writ of habeas corpus when it completely disregarded and ignored this Court’s well-established precedent of Woodford v. Visciotti and its progeny, by finding a state court’s application of Beck v. Alabama contrary to United States Supreme Court precedent, although the state court expressly recognized, cited and applied the appropriate federal standard of review but its analysis was not a model of clarity; and (2) whether the decision of the court of appeals finding error under Beck based solely on speculative and non-existent evidence is so clearly erroneous, and in conflict with other lower federal courts, that this Court should, if not grant plenary review, at least grant certiorari, vacate the court of appeals’ decision, and remand with instructions to deny habeas corpus relief.