James Walter Cherry v. W. J. Estelle, Director, Texas Department of Corrections

This habeas case presents the question . of the extent to which the State must provide expert witnesses for indigent criminal defendants. James Walter Cherry, the petitioner, is serving a life sentence for murder of a law enforcement officer in Dallas, Texas. In his petition for habeas relief, he contended that he was denied a fair trial because the Dallas County Commissioners’ Court refused to pay the expenses that would . be incurred in obtaining the testimony of an independent ballistics expert on his behalf. The district court rejected this and other contentions, and denied habeas relief.

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