WITHERSPOON v. STONEBREAKER

No. 19-7276.

30 F.4th 381 (2022)

Lynel WITHERSPOON, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Donnie STONEBREAKER, Warden of Evans Correctional Institution, Respondent-Appellee.

United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit.

Decided: April 8, 2022.


Attorney(s) appearing for the Case

ARGUED: Emily Washburn , Rohun Shah , WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, for Appellant. Tommy Evans, Jr. , OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF SOUTH CAROLINA, Columbia, South Carolina, for Appellee. ON BRIEF: John J. Korzen , Director, Rachel A. Klink , Third-Year Law Student, Alexandria K. Montgomery , Third-Year Law Student, Appellate Advocacy Clinic, WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, for Appellant. Alan Wilson , Attorney General, Donald J. Zelenka , Deputy Attorney General, Melody J. Brown , Senior Assistant Deputy Attorney General, Caroline Scrantom , Assistant Attorney General, OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF SOUTH CAROLINA, Columbia, South Carolina, for Appellee.

Reversed and remanded by published opinion. Judge King wrote the majority opinion, in which Senior Judge Gibney joined. Judge Rushing wrote a dissenting opinion.


This appeal arises from Lynel Witherspoon's nearly decade-long pursuit of relief from his 2013 conviction of a single count of cocaine distribution. Witherspoon was tried for that offense in the Court of General Sessions for Horry County, South Carolina (the "trial court"). The prosecution's evidence at trial was short of overwhelming...

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