Charles Bainton Butcher v. J. Marquez, Superintendent, and Attorney General, State of California

Butcher, a state prisoner, was convicted by a California court of assault with intent to commit murder and assault with a deadly weapon. On appeal of the district court’s dismissal of his habeas petition, Butcher makes several claims based on ineffective assistance of counsel. Butcher is not entitled to relief because he has, under the facts of this case, failed to show that counsel was not reasonably competent and diligent.

FACTS

Charles Butcher was convicted in California state court of assault with intent to commit murder and related charges. The jury found that he shot his ex-wife, Carol Vannoy, and her male companion in March 1979 while the two victims were in bed at the man’s house. Butcher raises six claims, four concerning ineffective assistance of trial counsel, one alleging ineffective assistance of appellate counsel, and the last concerning an evidentiary error by the state trial judge. His ineffective assistance claims are, first, that his counsel erred in failing to seek a “heat of passion” jury instruction; second, that his counsel failed to obtain suppression of a gun seized from Butcher in May 1978 which was introduced into evidence for the March 1979 shooting,…