Sylvester Abrams v. Paul Barnett, Warden, Danville Correctional Center

FLAUM, Circuit Judge.

A jury convicted Petitioner Sylvester Abrams of first degree murder, and the Ap pellate Court of Illinois affirmed his conviction on direct appeal, People v. Abrams, 260 Ill.App.3d 566, 197 Ill.Dec. 853, 631 N.E.2d 1312 (1994). Abrams subsequently filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus in federal district court. The district court denied his petition, U.S. ex rel. Abrams v. Barnett, No. 95 C 601, 1995 WL 758405 (N.D.Ill. Dec. 18, 1995), and Abrams now appeals, alleging (i) that his Sixth Amendment right to effective assistance of counsel and his Fourteenth Amendment…