Otis Ray Fitzgerald v. W. J. Estelle, Director Texas Department of Corrections

CLARK, Circuit Judge:

A panel of this court overturned a finding by the Texas trial and appellate habeas corpus courts and by the federal district judge that petitioner had not been denied the effective assistance of counsel at his 1954 state court trial for robbery. We agreed to rehear the cause en banc to resolve the constitutional standards which govern adjudication of claims of ineffective assistance of privately retained counsel. Those standards are set out as Part I. After a review of the records of the original trial we reverse the panel action and affirm the denial of habeas corpus…