Ronnie Payne v. Patricia Stansberry

ROGERS, Circuit Judge:

Ronnie Payne appeals the dismissal of his petition for a writ of habeas corpus in which he claimed he was denied his right to the effective assistance of counsel under the Sixth Amendment when his appellate counsel failed to seek plain error review of the trial judge’s instruction that the jury “must find [Payne] guilty” even if the government failed to prove any element of a charged offense beyond a reasonable doubt. We conclude Payne has met his burden under the ineffective assistance standard of Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674…