Weaver v. Nicholson, 892 F.3d 878

Background

Wendell Weaver was convicted of first-degree murder (40 years) for the 2002 killing of Randy Sanders based primarily on testimony by Danny Callico and ballistics linking a pistol recovered from Weaver in an unrelated September 2002 incident.
Before trial the court disqualified Weaver’s chosen counsel, Charles Murphy, because Murphy had recently represented and visited a potential state witness, Rondell Traywick, creating a potential conflict of interest.
At trial Officer Pinal testified that Weaver drew a gun, pointed it at officers, fled, and later tossed the gun; a firearms expert linked that gun to casings/bullets from the murder scene. Defense impeached Callico and highlighted the time gap between the murder and recovery of the gun.
Weaver’s state appeals and post-conviction petitions were denied; he then filed a federal habeas petition raising denial of counsel-of-choice, ineffective assistance of trial counsel (several subclaims), Napue/Brady claim about coerced/perjured testimony, and improper admission of "other crimes" evidence (the September 2002 incident).
The district court denied the petition; the Seventh Circuit reviewed under AEDPA de novo for legal questions and with AEDPA deference to state-court rulings on law and fact and affirmed.

Issues

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
1) Denial of counsel-of-choice	Weaver: disqualification of Murphy violated Sixth Amendment presumption in favor of counsel of choice	State: trial court reasonably found a serious potential conflict (Murphy had recent contact/representation of Traywick, a possible witness)	Affirmed — disqualification reasonable under Wheat; state court reasonably applied precedent
2) Ineffective assistance — cross-examining Callico	Weaver: counsel failed to impeach Callico on a prior statement that shooter was on foot	State: counsel vigorously attacked Callico’s credibility overall; no prejudice shown	Affirmed — state court reasonably applied Strickland
3) Ineffective assistance — failure to locate/call witnesses (Delaney, four Pinal rebuttal witnesses, Dortch/Tolliver re: Lupe confession)	Weaver: missing witnesses would have impeached prosecution’s case or pointed to another shooter	State: counsel’s omissions were strategic or the testimony would be inadmissible/unreliable; some claims procedurally defaulted	Affirmed — Strickland not unreasonably applied; some claims procedurally defaulted and hearsay/unreliable
4) Napue/Brady — knowing use of perjured/coerced testimony	Weaver: prosecutors coerced/used Callico’s false ID of Weaver	State: no evidence prosecution coerced or knew of perjury; state factual findings supported	Affirmed — state court’s factual findings accepted under AEDPA; no clear convincing evidence to overturn
5) Admission of "other crimes" evidence (September 2002 gun incident)	Weaver: admission violated due process	State: claim was not presented to Illinois Supreme Court (exhaustion default)	Dismissed as procedurally defaulted — no cause shown to excuse default

Key Cases Cited

Wheat v. United States, 486 U.S. 153 (trial court has broad latitude to disqualify counsel of choice when a serious potential conflict exists)
Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (ineffective assistance standard: deficient performance and prejudice)
Napue v. Illinois, 360 U.S. 264 (due process violated if prosecution knowingly uses false testimony)
Chambers v. Mississippi, 410 U.S. 284 (admission of hearsay against declarant’s penal interest may be allowed when reliable and critical to defense)
O'Sullivan v. Boerckel, 526 U.S. 838 (state-court exhaustion requires one full round of appellate review)
Williams v. Taylor, 529 U.S. 362 (AEDPA standards: "contrary to" and "unreasonable application" of Supreme Court precedent)
Harrington v. Richter, 562 U.S. 86 (state-court decisions are reasonable if fair-minded jurists could disagree)
Rodriguez v. Chandler, 382 F.3d 670 (7th Cir. — example of habeas relief where disqualification improperly denied counsel-of-choice)