Demetrie Ladon Mayfield v. Jeanne Woodford, Warden

GRABER, Circuit Judge, with whom SCHROEDER, Chief Judge, and HAWKINS and RAWLINSON, Circuit Judges,

join, dissenting:

Defense counsel in this case abandoned his duty of loyalty to his client and thereby created a conflict of interest from which prejudice in the guilt phase of the trial must be presumed. I therefore disagree with Part 11(E) of the majority’s opinion and, accordingly, dissent.

As the Supreme Court of the United States reminded us recently, “there are a few situations in which prejudice may be presumed” in the analysis of an ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claim. Williams v.…