Ronald R. Weaver v. Joan Palmateer, Ronald R. Weaver v. Joan Palmateer
Opinion
Opinion
O'Scannlain, J.
In this case we must decide whether an Oregon state prisoner is entitled to a writ of habeas corpus on the basis of ineffective assistance of counsel in connection with his rape and sodomy convictions in 1983.
I
On August 30, 1982, authorities in Clac-kamas County, Oregon arrested Petitioner Ronald Weaver on suspicion that he had committed some 20 to 30 rapes between December 1981 and August 1982. Weaver was accused of being the “T-Shirt Rapist,” a serial offender whose distinctive modus operandi was to target lone women, to break into their homes, and to commit sexual assault under threat of violence while covering his head with a T-shirt or other article of clothing. The assailant would then force the victims to lie face down; he would cover them with a blanket and then flee the scene.
The police identified Weaver as the culprit when, in an aborted rape attempt, the intended victim followed the assailant out of the house and wrote down the license plate number of his departing vehicle. The plates were registered to Weaver’s sister. Subsequently, police determined that fingerprints left on one victim’s sliding glass door belonged to Weaver.