Cite as: 506 U. S. 390 (1993)
Opinion of the Court
newly discovered evidence—which is not available under Texas law more than 30 days after imposition or suspension of sentence. Tex. Rule App. Proc. 31(a)(1) (1992).5
Alternatively, petitioner invokes the Fourteenth Amendment's guarantee of due process of law in support of his claim that his showing of actual innocence entitles him to a new trial, or at least to a vacation of his death sentence.6 "[B]e-cause the States have considerable expertise in matters of criminal procedure and the criminal process is grounded in centuries of common-law tradition," we have "exercis[ed] substantial deference to legislative judgments in this area." Medina v. California, 505 U. S. 437, 445-446 (1992). Thus, we have found criminal process lacking only where it " 'offends some principle of justice so rooted in the traditions and
5 The dissent relies on Beck v. Alabama, 447 U. S. 625 (1980), for the proposition that, "at least in capital cases, the Eighth Amendment requires more than reliability in sentencing. It also mandates a reliable determination of guilt." Post, at 434. To the extent Beck rests on Eighth Amendment grounds, it simply emphasizes the importance of ensuring the reliability of the guilt determination in capital cases in the first instance. We have difficulty extending this principle to hold that a capital defendant who has been afforded a full and fair trial may challenge his conviction on federal habeas based on after-discovered evidence.
6 The dissent takes us to task for examining petitioner's Fourteenth Amendment claim in terms of procedural, rather than substantive, due process. Because "[e]xecution of an innocent person is the ultimate 'arbitrary impositio[n],' " post, at 437, quoting Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pa. v. Casey, 505 U. S. 833, 848 (1992) (internal quotation marks omitted), the dissent concludes that "petitioner may raise a substantive due process challenge to his punishment on the ground that he is actually innocent," post, at 437. But the dissent puts the cart before the horse. For its due process analysis rests on the assumption that petitioner is in fact innocent. However, as we have discussed, petitioner does not come before this Court as an innocent man, but rather as one who has been convicted by due process of law of two capital murders. The question before us, then, is not whether due process prohibits the execution of an innocent person, but rather whether it entitles petitioner to judicial review of his "actual innocence" claim. This issue is properly analyzed only in terms of procedural due process.
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