Mercadel v. Cain

Peter Mercadel appeals the district court’s denial of habeas relief on the merits of his claim that he was deprived of the effective assistance of counsel on direct appeal because his attorney filed only an errors-patent brief on his behalf. We conclude that Mercadel has failed to fairly present this claim to the Louisiana state courts, and therefore that he has failed to exhaust his state court remedies. We therefore vacate the district court’s judgment and remand with instructions to dismiss Mercadel’s habeas application without prejudice to allow him to exhaust his remedies in Louisiana…