Stokes Ray CROTTS, Jr., Petitioner-Appellee, v. George SMITH, Warden, California Department of Corrections, Respondent-Appellant

ORDER

The opinion filed October 10, 1995 is withdrawn.

OPINION

A state court jury found Petitioner-Appel-lee Stokes Ray Crotts guilty of assault with a deadly weapon upon a peace officer in violation of California Penal Code § 245(e). After his conviction was affirmed on direct appeal, Crotts unsuccessfully petitioned the California state courts for a writ of habeas corpus. Crotts then petitioned the United States District Court for habeas relief. The district court granted the petition, ruling that the failure of Crotts’s counsel to object to highly prejudicial testimony, introduced by the prosecution, denied Crotts his right to effective assistance of counsel. Respondent Warden George Smith (the “State”) now appeals.

We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 . We affirm.

I. FACTS AND PRIOR PROCEEDINGS

The undisputed facts are as follows: On October 24, 1989, Deputy Sheriffs Schoon-maker and Thanstrom noticed Crotts’s pickup truck parked in a dirt turnout on Lopez Canyon Road, Los Angeles County, California. Sehoonmaker saw a man (Crotts) and a woman (Greeley) in the truck. Sehoonmaker approached the truck and asked Crotts for identification. Crotts handed over a social…