206
Stevens, J., dissenting
exist and remain technically available prior to a defendant's capital murder sentencing phase, the defendant's eventual parole ineligibility is just as uncertain at the crucial moment.
The plurality, however, never addresses any of this, but surely its holding today is an invitation to such possibilities. Indeed, if these possibilities make Simmons inapplicable, does this not invite the very same circumvention of Simmons that would result if the rule turned entirely on state law (see supra, at 201), by allowing a State to render all prior convictions uncertain simply by holding open some theoretical possibility for postconviction relief at all times? Given that appeals and various forms of postconviction relief undermine the certainty of a verdict or a "conviction" every bit as much as does a procedure like Rule 3A:15(b)— indeed, probably more so—the plurality's reasoning either draws an arbitrary line between these types of procedures, or it accepts that all of these possibilities make Simmons inapplicable, in which case that due process right is eviscerated entirely.34 It is abundantly clear that the proclaimed "workable" rule the plurality claims to be following is an illusion. Ante, at 166.
No such arbitrary line-drawing is at all necessary to decide this case. It is entirely sufficient simply to hold that Virginia has offered not one reason for doubting that judgment would be entered on the Domino's Pizza robbery verdict or for doubting Ramdass' eventual parole ineligibility. Certainly it has offered no reason for thinking that the possibil-34 The plurality says "[t]he Commonwealth is entitled to some deference, in the context of its own parole laws, in determining the best reference point for making the ineligibility determination." Ante, at 170; see also ante, at 176 ("States may take different approaches and we see no support for a rule that would require a State to declare a conviction final for purposes of a three-strikes statute once a verdict has been rendered"). But the questions here are whether the federal due process standard must abide by every state-law distinction, and if not, is abiding by the entry-of-judgment distinction arbitrary, in light of the fact that that distinction has absolutely no bearing on whether the verdict will be set aside?
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