Curtis J. Pidgeon v. Judy P. Smith

FLAUM, Circuit Judge.

Curtis Pidgeon is currently confined in a Wisconsin prison after pleading guilty to a sexual assault charge in Dodge County. He now seeks to withdraw that plea, arguing that he agreed to a plea bargain only because of incorrect — and, he claims, constitutionally ineffective — advice from his attorney. After exhausting his state remedies, Pidgeon filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the Western District of Wisconsin. He claims that the performance of his trial counsel, Joseph Fischer, was constitutionally ineffective because he incorrectly advised Pidgeon that…