The prisoner cannot raise a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel on habeas counsel's performance, regardless how ineffective he may have been. This ruling establishes that the courts may appoint inexperienced attorneys who have never represented a death row prisoner. The problem that confronts each prisoner now since the appeal process has been shortened is that those wrongfully convicted will have a difficult task to prove their innocence. The Attorneys for Andrew Mitchell took 11 years to discover the evidence that the prosecution knew the victim was killed by Mitchell's son. The attorneys for Clarence Brandley took 9 years to prove the witnesses who testified against Brandley were told what to say by the Texas Rangers.
History is full of examples of citizen being wrongfully convicted.
The report listed that Texas had five who were wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death. Randell Dale Adams was wrongfully convicted for killing a police officer in Dallas, but he was released in 1989 when documents were discovered that proved prosecutors withheld favorable evidence. Clarence Brandley was wrongfully convicted of killing a white teenager in Conroe. The Court of Criminal Appeals reversed his conviction after it was discovered the Texas Ranges instructed the witnesses to commit perjury testimony. He was released after it was discovered that his trial attorney was dating Mrs. McManus during the trial and subsequently married Mrs. McManus after Vernon McManus's trial.