The U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously on Thursday that child sex offender Danny Rivers is to remain in prison, affirming his original conviction.
Rivers was sentenced in 2012 on charges of continuous sexual abuse of his daughters, indecency with a child, and possession of child pornography.
After being sentenced, Rivers filed a state habeas corpus petition—a legal process that allows an individual to challenge their imprisonment—but was unsuccessful.
He then filed a federal habeas petition in 2017, alleging ineffective assistance of counsel. When that was denied, Rivers attempted to introduce new evidence during his appeal, which the courts rejected.
The focus of the case was on the use of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act in interpreting federal habeas corpus petitions. The Supreme Court’s decision clarified that AEDPA’s restrictions on “second or successive” habeas petitions apply even when new filings are made during a pending appeal, not just after an appeal is resolved.
The Court emphasized that allowing such filings would undermine the finality of criminal convictions and lead to piecemeal litigation.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton stated regarding the case that although Rivers’ lawyers acknowledged in post-conviction filings that he had admitted to sexually abusing his daughters, Rivers continued to claim he was wrongfully convicted and argued that new forensic evidence could exonerate him.
However, the Supreme Court did not review the merits of those innocence claims, but focused solely on the procedural aspects under AEDPA.
“In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court sided with Texas and ensured that dangerous convicted criminals will not be able to use procedural games to escape justice,” said Paxton. “This is a great win for Texas and the rest of America because it makes it harder for prisoners to weaponize federal courts to attack their state convictions.”
“Rivers was convicted of unbelievably heinous sexual abuse of his own children, and he will face the consequences of his actions,” added Paxton.
Passed in 1996, AEDPA limits offenders to one habeas petition filing, except under certain circumstances, to help prevent federal courts from being inundated by repeat filings and to promote the finality of criminal sentences. The opinion the Court handed down Thursday affirms this interpretation of the law.
In February, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn filed an amicus brief supporting Texas’ position on the case.
