East v. Scott
United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
55 F.3d 996 (1995)
- Written by Sharon Feldman, JD
Facts
Wayne East (defendant) was convicted of capital murder for killing Mary Sears while burglarizing her home. A former prosecutor retained by the Sears family assisted the district attorney in prosecuting East. East’s conviction was affirmed, and his state and federal habeas corpus petitions were denied. East filed a second federal habeas petition, alleging that a private attorney’s participation in his prosecution violated his due-process rights. East claimed that the private attorney (1) controlled significant trial-strategy decisions, including the decision to offer a plea bargain to the prosecution’s key witness; (2) conducted an independent pretrial investigation; (3) interviewed witnesses without the district attorney’s supervision or control; (4) delivered the prosecution’s opening and closing arguments and examined the prosecution’s most important witness; and (5) was an experienced capital-murder prosecutor. The district court dismissed East’s petition. On appeal, East argued that the district court erred in dismissing his petition without permitting discovery regarding his due-process claim.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Davis, J.)
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