Robert Wilson v. United States

J. SKELLY WEIGHT, Circuit Judge:

This appeal presents the unusual situation of the Government conceding a claim which is usually hotly contested— that the appellant suffers from permanent retrograde amnesia as a result of which he has no recollection of any of the events alleged in the indictment. The question raised on appeal is whether it is a denial of due process or of the right to effective assistance of counsel to try a defendant suffering from such a loss of memory.

Appellant was tried and convicted in five counts of assault with a pistol and robbery. The evidence presented at trial was…