Earixson
Earixson v. Walker
Opinion
Lead Opinion
MEMORANDUM **
Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254 , Clifford Earixson seeks habeas corpus relief from a state-court conviction. The District Court *671 denied Earixson’s petition on March 7, 2007, 2007 WL 704119 . The only issue certified for appeal by this Court and pursued by Earixson is whether he was denied his Sixth Amendment right to effective assistance of counsel based on his trial counsel’s closing remarks to the jury.
A jury convicted Earixson of all four counts with which he was charged: two counts of sexual conduct with a minor against victim S.K. (counts 1 and 2) and two counts of sexual abuse against victim J.G. (counts 3 and 4).
The evidence of Earixson’s guilt was overwhelming. The prosecution called nine witnesses, including both S.K. and J.G. Two propensity witnesses testified about prior acts of sexual molestation that Earixson perpetrated against them but that were not charged in the indictment.
In his closing remarks to the jury, Ea-rixson’s trial counsel conceded Earixson’s guilt as to the charges pertaining to S.K. but argued that Earixson was innocent of the charges pertaining to J.G. On appeal, Earixson argues that his trial counsel’s concession of guilt as…