Frank Earl Senk v. Charles H. Zimmerman, Superintendent and Leroy Zimmerman, Attorney General of the State of Pennsylvania

OPINION OF THE COURT

SCIRICA, Circuit Judge.

Frank Earl Senk appeals the denial of his petition for writ of habeas corpus. The petition alleges that Senk was denied his sixth amendment right to effective assistance of counsel by virtue of his lawyer’s failure to pursue, in post-trial motions and on appeal, a challenge to the trial court’s charge on first degree murder, which Senk alleges contained an impermissible mandatory presumption on the element of intent. The district court held that because the judicial decisions that arguably render unconstitutional the jury instruction on intent were…