United States Second Circuit

In fifteen-year old conviction and sentence for offenses including criminal possession of a controlled substance in the first degree and attempted murder, grant of petition for writ of habeas corpus claiming ineffective assistance of counsel in connection to petitioner's plea deal is vacated and remanded where: 1) district courts should normally conduct their own evidentiary hearings before reaching independent credibility determinations; 2) the district court erred in making its own credibility finding without its own evidentiary hearing; and 3) it is permissible for a court to rely on habit evidence of a lawyer's usual practice in reconstructing events.

Appellate Information

• Decided 12/08/2008
• Published 12/08/2008

Judges

Court

• United States Second Circuit

Counsel