Court Opinion

ID: 9463607
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 23:10:46.739196+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:38:11.091890
License: Public Domain

TJOFLAT, Circuit Judge,
dissenting:
In holding that the petitioner was not denied effective assistance of counsel, the court below applied the test of whether petitioner’s “trial was a farce or a mockery of justice or was shocking to the conscience of the reviewing court.”1 This test has been rejected in this circuit, which requires “not errorless counsel, and not counsel judged ineffective by hindsight, but counsel reasonably likely to render and rendering reasonably effective assistance.” MacKenna v. Ellis, 280 F.2d 592, 599 (5th Cir. 1960) (emphasis in original), cert. denied, 368 U.S. 877, 82 S.Ct. 121, 7 L.Ed.2d 78 (1961); Herring v. Estelle, 491 F.2d 125, 127 (5th Cir. 1974); Mason v. Balcom, 531 F.2d 717, 722 n.8 (5th Cir. 1976). This case, then, is appropriate for application of the rule that “[a]ny fact findings based on an erroneous legal standard cannot be credited. Battle-stein Investment Co. v. United States, 5 Cir., 1971, 442 F.2d 87, 89; Fulton National Bank v. Tate, 5 Cir., 1966, 363 F.2d 562, 566.” Tyler v. Insurance Co. of North America, 539 F.2d 1072, 1074 (5th Cir. 1972). See also Townsend v. Sain, 372 U.S. 293, 315 n.10, 83 S.Ct. 745, 9 L.Ed.2d 770 (1963); Rogers v. Richmond, 365 U.S. 534, 545, 81 S.Ct. 735, 5 L.Ed.2d 760 (1961). I would reverse and remand the case with directions that the district court resolve this issue under the correct legal standard.
I respectfully dissent.

. This test was recited in the district court’s memorandum opinion. Record at 107.