Us Supreme Court Court October 1981 Judgments

Duckworth Vs. Serrano

Court: US Supreme Court

Duckworth v. Serrano - 454 U.S. 1 (1981) U.S. Supreme Court Duckworth v. Serrano, 454 U.S. 1 (1981) Duckworth v. Serrano No. 82041 Decided October 19, 1981 454 U.S. 1 ON PETITION FOR WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SEVENTH CIRCUIT Syllabus Respondent, whose Indiana state court conviction for murder was affirmed by the Indiana Supreme Court, unsuccessfully sought habeas corpus relief in a Federal District Court. On appeal to the Court of Appeals, respondent claimed for the first time that he had been denied effective assistance of counsel, on the basis of a prosecution witness' testimony at the state trial that she had been represented on a traffic charge by the law firm of respondent's attorney and that she had asked respondent's attorney to represent her on a pending robbery charge, unrelated to the murder. The Court of Appeals reversed the District Court's dismissal of the habeas corpus petition, concluding that there was a per se violati...