Whether the state court's decision conflicts with Lafler v. Cooper

QUESTIONS PRESENTED Petitioner pled guilty to felony theft. At the sentencing hearing, the trial court announced that it intended to sentence her to ten years in prison, the statutory maximum—asserting that she should have been charged with felony murder because her accomplice ran a red light, hit a car, and killed the driver as they fled from the police after the theft—but gave her the option of withdrawing her guilty plea. If petitioner had accepted the ten-year sentence for theft, she would have become eligible for parole after serving 15 months (and had been in jail for almost ten months by that time). Petitioner withdrew her guilty plea and was reindicted for felony murder. A jury convicted her and assessed 35 years in prison. She must serve half of the sentence (17.5 years) before she becomes eligible for parole. She sought habeas corpus relief on the basis that her original counsel in the theft case provided ineffective assistance by failing to advise her of the difference in parole eligibility between a theft sentence and a murder sentence. The court denied an evidentiary hearing and based its decision to recommend that relief be denied on the conflicting affidavits of petitioner and her counsel. The questions presented are: I. Does the state court’s decision that petitioner cannot challenge her murder conviction based on her original counsel’s failure to inform her of the difference in parole eligibility between a theft sentence and a murder sentence before she withdrew her guilty plea to theft conflict with Lafler v. Cooper, 566 U.S. 166 (2012)? li QUESTIONS PRESENTED—Continued II. Did the state courts deny petitioner procedural due process by rejecting her ineffective assistance of counsel claim based on conflicting affidavits without conducting an evidentiary when the state habeas trial judge that made the credibility determinations did not preside at the proceedings in the theft case or at the felony murder trial? ili RELATED CASES e State v. Howard, No. 1465955, 183rd_ District Court of Harris County. Judgment entered February 4, 2016. e Howard v. State, No. 01-16-00120-CR, First Court of Appeals of Texas. Judgment entered April 25, 2017. e Howard v. State, No. PD-0939-17, Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. Judgment entered November 15, 2017. e Howard v. Texas, No. 17-9302, United States Supreme Court. Judgment entered October 1, 2018. e Ex parte Howard, No. 1465955-A, 183rd District Court of Harris County. Judgment entered December 10, 2020. e Ex parte Howard, No. WR-92,267-01, Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. Judgment entered April 14, 2021.