Williams v. Lemmon

An Indiana jury found Ronald Williams guilty of murder, and the state trial court sentenced him to 75 years’ imprisonment. Williams’s conviction and sentence were upheld on direct appeal and on collateral review in the Indiana courts. Williams then petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus. The district court denied that petition. We issued a certificate of appealability on the question whether his trial counsel rendered constitutionally deficient assistance. On appeal Williams faults trial counsel for failing to interview one of two other people who arrived at the scene where the murder was…