Date: April 17th, 2012 4:12 PM
Author: obsidian famous landscape painting tanning salon
http://www.law.harvard.edu/students/orgs/crcl/vol41_2/obryant.pdf
Imagine a defendant pleading guilty to an offense and being sentenced to life in prison after his court-appointed attorney informed him that, under the plea, he will be eligible for release after ten years. His attorney
reiterates this understanding in open court at sentencing, and neither the prosecutor nor the judge refutes him. Now imagine that, when the defendant arrives at prison, he learns that—contrary to his counsel’s information—he will never be released from prison.
Under such circumstances a person should be able to receive some sort of relief from the court system. What happens, however, if the state court system refuses to rectify the matter? Traditionally, a defendant could turn to the federal courts, but for nearly a decade access to the federal courts
has not always been available due to a devastating combination: pro se litigation and the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (“AEDPA”).
(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=1923613&forum_id=2#20483716)