Willis Randolph v. People of the State of California Attorney General of the State of California James Hamlet, Warden

WILLIAM A. FLETCHER, Circuit Judge:

Petitioner Willis Randolph appeals the district court’s denial of his petition for a writ of habeas corpus challenging his 1986 state court conviction for murder. We hold that if the State places a cooperating informant in a jail cell with a defendant whose right to counsel has attached, and if the informant then makes a successful effort to stimulate a conversation with the defendant about the crime charged, the State thereby violates the defendant’s Sixth Amendment rights under Massiah v. United States, 377 U.S. 201, 84 S.Ct. 1199, 12 L.Ed.2d 246 (1964).…