Woods v. Donald (575 U.S. 312)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided March 30, 2015 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 575 U.S. 312 · 135 S. Ct. 1372
- Decided
- March 30, 2015
- Term
- October Term 2014
- Vote
- 9–0
- Issue area
- Civil Rights
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Cite as: 575 U. S. ____ (2015) 1 Per Curiam SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES JEFFREY WOODS, WARDEN v. CORY DONALD ON PETITION FOR WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT No. 14–618. Decided March 30, 2015 PER CURIAM. Federal courts may grant habeas corpus relief if the underlying state-court decision was “contrary to, or in volved an unreasonable application of, clearly established Federal law, as determined by” this Court. 28 U.S. C . §2254(d)(1). Here, the Sixth Circuit held that respondent Cory Donald’s attorney provided per se ineffective assis tance of counsel under United States v. Cronic, 466 U.S. 648 (1984), when he was briefly absent during testimony concerning other defendants. Because no decision from this Court clearly establishes that Donald is entitled to relief under Cronic, we reverse. I After a day of drinking and smoking marijuana, Cory Donald and four others—Seante Liggins, Rashad Moore, Dewayne Saine, and Fawzi Zaya—decided to rob a drug dealer named Mohammed Makki. Donald, Moore, and Liggins drove to Makki’s home in Dearborn, Michigan, wearing black skull caps and coats. Moore and Donald entered the house, while Liggins waited in the car. Michael McGinnis, one of Makki’s drug runners, was in the house at the time. When Donald and Moore came through the door, McGinnis raised his hands and dropped face-down to the…
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