Tejeda v. Dubois
Case Date: 04/27/1998
Court: United States Court of Appeals
Docket No: 97-1777
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United States Court of Appeals For the First Circuit ____________________ No. 97-1777 MIGUEL TEJEDA, JR., Petitioner, v. LARRY E. DUBOIS, Respondent. ____________________ APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS [Hon. Joseph L. Tauro, U.S. District Judge] ____________________ Before Stahl, Circuit Judge, Cyr, Senior Circuit Judge, and Shadur, Senior District Judge. _____________________ John M. Thompson for petitioner. Susanne G. Levsen, Assistant Attorney General, with whom Scott Harshbarger, Attorney General, was on brief for respondent. ____________________ April 24, 1998 ____________________ SHADUR, Senior District Judge. Miguel Tejeda Jr. ("Tejeda") has filed a 28 U.S.C. 2254 ("Section 2254") petition for a writ of habeas corpus ("Petition") that challenges his state court conviction on three related criminal charges. Tejeda contends that his conviction must be overturned because he did not receive constitutionally effective counsel at trial as required by the Sixth Amendment. That claim was rejected by the district court, but for the reasons set forth below we reverse that decision, vacate Tejeda's conviction and remand the case for entry of an appropriate order. Background Tejeda was arrested on July 11, 1991 and charged with trafficking in cocaine, unlawful possession of a firearm and unlawful possession of a firearm or ammunition without an identification card. Shortly thereafter he was indicted by a Hampden County, Massachusetts grand jury on those charges and was brought to trial in Hampden Superior Court. After Tejeda lost two motions to suppress evidence, the trial commenced on December 9, 1991. At trial the prosecution relied on five police witnesses to build its case against Tejeda. What follows in the next three paragraphs is the officers' account of events, set out as factual narrative without stating the qualification that it reflects their testimony as the jury could be entitled to credit it. On the date of Tejeda's arrest Sergeant Charles Cook ("Cook") had supervised police surveillance of a house at 37 James Street in Springfield, Massachusetts. Tejeda lived in an apartment on the first floor of the house. After Cook learned that the police had obtained a search warrant for the house (a warrant based on a tip provided by a confidential informant), Cook observed Tejeda leave the house, open the trunk of a car parked outside and lean inside the trunk. Tejeda then drove away in the car. Cook followed Tejeda for a short distance and then radioed Detective John O'Mara ("O'Mara") to stop the car. O'Mara stopped Tejeda several blocks away and searched the car. O'Mara's partner, Detective Dennis Kirby ("Kirby"), found a plastic bag in the trunk that contained about 30 grams of white powder, which proved to be cocaine, and $366 on Tejeda's person. Kirby took Tejeda to the police station after conducting the search. Shortly after the arrest, Cook and several other officers searched Tejeda's apartment. They found a loaded .38 caliber revolver under a mattress, ammunition for the gun, personal papers indicating that Tejeda lived in the apartment and a "drug ledger" containing names and addresses of prospective drug clients. Tejeda did not have the requisite identification card for the firearm and ammunition. In the face of such testimony, Tejeda's defense lawyer Edelmiro Mart |