Nichols v. Weirsma

Petitioner was convicted in state court of first-degree sexual assault and was sentenced to five years of probation. He appealed to the Seventh Circuit from the denial of his petition for a writ of habeas corpus challenging his conviction. Petitioner argued on appeal that the prosecution failed to preserve exculpatory evidence when notes prepared by the victim went missing and that his trial counsel was ineffective for failing to raise the issue prior to trial. The district court denied petitioner relief, relying on a deferential standard of review to the prior state court proceedings and the Seventh Circuit affirmed, finding that the state court proceedings were not contrary to or an unreasonable application of federal law nor were they based on any unreasonable factual finding. (BRENNAN and ST. EVE, concurring)