Opinion ID: 163849
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: introduction

Text: 1 Appellant Derek D. Anderson was convicted of aggravated sexual battery. Anderson sought federal habeas corpus relief under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 in the United States District Court for the District of Kansas, arguing that his counsel was ineffective for failing to adequately prepare, failing to investigate mitigating evidence, and failing to raise an insanity defense. The district court dismissed Anderson's habeas petition, concluding that federal court review of his ineffective assistance of counsel claim was barred due to his prior procedural default in Kansas state court. Anderson appeals, asserting that Kansas' procedural rule is inadequate to bar federal habeas review and that he was not allowed to develop facts needed to support his ineffective assistance of counsel claim in Kansas state court. 2 In a previous order, this court granted Anderson's request for a certificate of appealability. Exercising jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1291, 2253, this court reverses the dismissal of Anderson's § 2254 petition. Anderson's ineffective assistance of counsel claim is not procedurally barred because there was no firmly established and regularly followed rule under Kansas law that making an oral statement to the trial court alleging ineffective assistance of counsel after expiration of the ten-day statutory period for filing a motion for new trial was sufficiently raising the issue before the trial court, requiring the claim to be presented on direct appeal or else be waived.