Hutchinson

MEMORANDUM *

Respondent Warden Jim Hamlet (the “State”) appeals the district court’s grant of Michael Hutchinson’s petition for writ of habeas corpus. The district court found that Hutchinson suffered from ineffective assistance of counsel in his state court robbery trial and was prejudiced thereby, and held that the state court’s conclusion to the contrary was an unreasonable application of clearly established federal law, as enunciated in Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 , 104 S.Ct. 2052 , 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984). The State concedes that trial counsel’s performance was deficient. The State contends, however, that Hutchinson’s claim is unexhausted due to his presentation of expert testimony in federal court that was not presented in state court, and that Hutchinson was not prejudiced from counsel’s failure to present such testimony at trial. Hutchinson argues, and we agree, that the expert testimony did not fundamentally alter his claim and, therefore, did not render it unexhausted, and that the district court properly concluded that he was prejudiced from trial counsel’s failure to present such testimony. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1291 and 2253, and we…