Terrence Williams v. Raymond Booker

OPINION

COLE, Circuit Judge.

Defendant-Appellee Terrence Williams, a Michigan state prisoner, successfully petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2254. Williams’s petition alleged ineffective assistance of trial counsel based on his attorney’s failure to communicate a favorable plea agreement to him. Because this claim was procedurally defaulted and because Williams cannot establish cause to surmount this procedural roadblock, we REVERSE the district court’s grant of the writ.

I. BACKGROUND

In October 2002, a Saginaw County jury convicted Williams of conspiring to commit…