On June 16, Patrick's legal team filed his final brief before the US District Court. Because of the conspicuous weakness of the State's brief, Patrick's lawyers were able to end on a very strong note: to "go in for the kill," as it were. Witness the opening paragraph:
"Mr. Bradford is innocent. The State's Return does little to dispute this critical proposition. Instead, it seeks to raise a number of procedural obstacles to freeing an innocent man. Fortunately, Habeas Corpus, a right protected by the Constitution, is designed to ensure the most important goal of our justice system: freedom for innocent people."
The rest of the brief hammers repetitively on the incompetence of the State's fire "experts", on the new scientific evidence of innocence, and on the fact that the State's own best evidence proves innocence rather than guilt.
From here, the Court will either grant our request for a hearing on additional scientific proof of innocence, or it will simply render a decision on what is before them. There is no way to tell which way it will go, but the best chance is at the next level in the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals.
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