Jimmie Lee Dyas v. Art Lockhart, Commissioner of the Ark. Dept. Of Corrections

HEANEY, Circuit Judge.

Jimmie Lee Dyas appeals from the district court’s denial of his petition for a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2254. For reversal he argues that the district court erred in deciding that Dyas’s trial was not prejudiced by the familial relationship between the trial judge and the prosecutor, and that the verdict should have been set aside because of the ineffective assistance he received from his counsel at trial. We reverse and remand for a hearing before the district court.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND.

In 1975, Jimmie Lee Dyas was convicted of capital…