Burtchett

MEMORANDUM **

On September 12, 1990, an Idaho state jury convicted James Burtchett of two counts of lewd and lascivious conduct with a child and four counts of sexual abuse of a child under the age of sixteen years. Burtchett suffers from severe hearing loss which hampered his ability to communicate with his counsel and participate in the trial. The trial court did not make any accommodations for Burtehett’s hearing loss.

Burtchett’s attorney did not file an appeal of Burtchett’s conviction because he believed an appeal to be hopeless, despite the fact that Burtchett had asked him to appeal. Burtchett eventually filed a petition for post-conviction relief under Idaho’s Uniform PosUConviction Procedures Act (“UPCPA”), Idaho Code § 19-4901 et seq., but Burtchett did not challenge his conviction in that petition. Burtchett did not raise the claims he raises here — ineffective assistance of counsel and due process violations — until he filed an original habeas petition in the Idaho Supreme Court in 1999. The Idaho Supreme Court summarily denied that petition.

Burtchett filed this habeas petition on May 2, 2000. The district court dismissed the petition as proeedurally barred.…