Twenty-Two Years, Five Applications, Zero Evidentiary Hearings

By Mrs. Eileen Hunter — about the author.

The complete post-conviction scoreboard in State v. Hunter: 2007 — pro se application, six claims: denied without a hearing. 2009 — the Corey Smith gun note: denied without a hearing. 2013 — the Nelson affidavit: denied without a hearing. 2022 — the factual-innocence application with the Bloom declaration, Rucks, Stokes, Campbell and Davis: denied without a hearing, writs denied. 2026 — the Comanche records: denied without a hearing; reconsideration denied; writ pending. A federal petition was dismissed as time-barred — no merits review there either. (The timeline.)

Whatever one believes about this case, one fact is undisputed: no judge has ever heard a witness testify about any of this evidence. Not Rucks. Not Wiggins. Not Nelson. Not Professor Bloom. Every ruling has been on paper.

The other half: courts may deny applications on the papers when the law permits, and each denial cited grounds — timeliness, repetitiveness, procedure. The pending writ argues those grounds fail here. That is the narrow, testable question now before the Second Circuit. (Procedural history.)