James Nealy v. Donald A. Cabana, Superintendent of Mississippi State Penitentiary

ALVIN B. RUBIN, Circuit Judge:

James Nealy appeals from his conviction and life sentence for the murder of Leo Davis. Nealy contends that his trial attorney failed to secure the testimony of three persons whose testimony might have established an alibi for him, thereby depriving him of the effective assistance of counsel guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Because the trial boiled down to a swearing match between a prosecution witness, who admitted committing the crime, and Nealy, who denied any part in it, and because the missing testimony might have affected…