Demetrius William Edwards, et al. v. Sherry Burt, Warden, et al.

During an overnight recess in Demetrius Edwards’s and Bryant Royster’s bench trial, the judge made an independent, nighttime visit to the crime scene, unbeknownst to and unaccompanied by their attorneys. He did so to see what the night light looked like. This Court has “uniformly” found constitutional error without requiring prejudice when defendants are deprived of counsel during a critical stage of criminal proceedings. United States v. Cronic, 466 U.S. 648, 659 n.25 (1984). And this Court has already clearly established the law at issue in this case: deprivation of counsel “during a long overnight recess in the trial” requires reversal, without showing prejudice. Geders v. United States, 425 U.S. 80, 91 (1976). The state court required prejudice, however, and so upheld the convictions, and the Sixth Circuit denied habeas relief despite this Court’s clearly established precedent to the contrary. The question presented is: whether a criminal defendant who was deprived of counsel during a critical stage of his trial, thereby giving rise to a presumption of prejudice, is entitled to habeas relief. (i)