Merril Leroy Jessop v. Texas

I. Whether the Texas courts’ refusal to conduct an evidentiary hearing on petitioner’s substantial constitutional claim of ineffective assistance of counsel contravened this Court’s longstanding requirement that state courts on post-conviction habeas corpus review may not deny federal constitutional claims without conducting an evidentiary hearing when genuine disputes about material facts exist (see, e.g., Commonwealth of Pennsylvania ex rel. Herman v. Claudy, 350 U.S. 116 (1956)). II. W hether a State must afford a defendant convicted of a felony offense and imprisoned by a state court an adequate corrective process concerning a substantial claim of ineffective assistance of counsel. This Court granted certiorari to address a similar question in Case v. Nebraska, 381 U.S. 336 (1965) (per curiam), but ultimately did not address the issue.