Fourth Circuit Vacates Order Denying § 2254 Motion, Remands for Evidentiary Hearing on Whether Counsel’s Failure to Object to Duplicative Drug Conspiracy Counts in Violation of Double Jeopardy Clause Was Strategic

by Matthew Thomas Clarke

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit vacated the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia’s order denying a federal prisoner’s 28 U.S.C. § 2255 motion on whether his trial counsel was ineffective for failing to object to duplicative conspiracy counts in …