I know that s isn't null because I check its value before I call SSL_get_peer_certificate(). I've also verified that s->session is infact NULL before the call to SSL_get_peer_certificate().
I can still send data across the link - I've tested using BIO_read() and BIO_write() to see if the machines can communicate and I was able to successfully write/read messages. One thing I did notice, and thanks for pointing this out, is that my SSL_set_verify callback function is never getting called which is strange. I'm using OpenSSL 0.9.8f running on AIX. Thanks, John M.