United States Ninth Circuit

The district court's denial of a habeas corpus petition challenging petitioner's convictions for contributing to the delinquency of a minor, child molestation, and sexual abuse on the basis of ineffective assistance of counsel, is reversed and remanded, where: 1) counsel’s failure to familiarize himself with petitioner's file led to a failure to present a key witness to the jury, and a reasonable lawyer would not have made such an "inexplicable" decision; and 2) counsel's deficient performance was prejudicial, because the priest’s testimony about the victim's recantation was not merely cumulative of her own testimony admitting the recantation to her mother, but could have tipped the scales in petitioner's favor.

Appellate Information

• Decided 11/13/2013
• Published 11/13/2013

Judges

• BEISTLINE

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel