Burden v. Zant

Petitioner argues that the Court of Appeals, in rejecting his conflict-of-interest claim, improperly failed to give a pre sumption of correctness to a state-court factual finding, in violation of 28 U. S. C. § 2254(d). We agree, and accordingly the motion for leave to proceed informa pauperis and the petition for a writ of certiorari are granted.

On August 1, 1981, petitioner was arrested on a charge of burglarizing his sister’s house. Kenneth Kondritzer, a local public defender in a two-attorney public defender’s office, was appointed soon thereafter to represent petitioner. While petitioner…