Robert Lee Holleman v. Zettie Cotton

The majority’s decision to dismiss Holle-man’s current habeas petition as an abuse of the writ rests on two contradictory conclusions. On the one hand, the majority holds that Judge Clement, who appointed attorney Frank to represent Holleman and who presided over Holleman’s trial, had no obligation to investigate the possibility that Frank had a conflict of interest. The simple fact that Frank previously had secured the dismissal of charges against Holle-man’s co-defendant was not enough, my brothers reason, to alert the judge to the potential conflict. Yet, the majority goes on to conclude…