Scott Schmidt v. Brian Foster

Hamilton, Circuit Judge.

Petitioner Scott Schmidt murdered his wife, Kelly Wing-Schmidt. He admitted the murder but tried to rely on the state-law defense of "adequate provocation" to mitigate the crime from first- to second-degree homicide. A state trial judge denied Schmidt the assistance of his counsel while the judge questioned Schmidt in a pretrial hearing on that substantive issue. Under law clearly established by the Supreme Court of the United States, the evidentiary hearing on that substantive issue was a "critical stage" of Schmidt's prosecution. By denying Schmidt the assistance of…