Alfredo Navarro Hinojosa v. United States

I. Does the Fifth Circuit’s harmless-error standard applied to preserved nonconstitutional errors—which asks whether there is a “reasonable probability” the error contributed to the verdict, considers the sufficiency of the evidence without the error, and fails to place the burden on the prosecution to demonstrate lack of harm—conflict with this Court’s wellestablished harmless-error standard set forth in Kotteakos v. United States, 328 U.S. 750 (1946)? II. If a federal defendant on direct appeal raises a colorable Sixth Amendment claim of ineffective assistance by his prior counsel in the district court, with strong support in the existing record on appeal, should the Court of Appeals remand the case to the district court to conduct an evidentiary hearing on the claim rather than require the defendant to litigate the claim subsequently in a post-conviction proceeding under 28 U.S.C. § 2255, where he has no right to appointed counsel or effective assistance of counsel?