United States Fourth Circuit

In habeas proceedings, district court's ruling in favor of defendant on the merits of his ineffective assistance of counsel claims is reversed and remanded as, in reaching its conclusions, the district court ignored the several state post-conviction proceedings which had determined that the evidence defendant presented was not credible and that his constitutional claim was without merit, and such a de novo do-over was impermissible under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996.

Appellate Information

• Argued 12/04/2009
• Decided 01/29/2010
• Published 01/29/2010

Judges

• Before WILKINSON and KING, Circuit Judges, and HENRY E. HUDSON, United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Virginia, sitting by designation.

Court

• United States Fourth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellees:
  
• ARGUED:Clarence Joe DelForge, III, North Carolina Department of Justice, Raleigh, North Carolina, for Appellant. William Gregory Duke, Greenville, North Carolina, for Appellee. ON BRIEF:Roy Cooper, Attorney General, Raleigh, North Carolina, for Appellant.