BRIGHT, Circuit Judge.
Sanford Thomas seeks habeas corpus relief from his conviction in the state courts of Missouri of first degree murder and from his sentence of life imprisonment. The district court, after an evidentiary hearing, denied Thomas any relief. Thomas appeals, asserting that the assistance afforded by his retained trial counsel fell below minimal constitutional standards and that the prosecutor violated due process by falsely stating that a crucial witness was unavailable due to illness. Thomas has fully exhausted his state remedies.1
[409]*409The basic facts underlying petitioner’s conviction are relatively uncomplicated. The Missouri Supreme Court accurately summarized them as follows:
On Sunday evening, November 27, 1966, defendant had been riding around the North Florissant and Cass Avenue neighborhood in St. Louis with a number of other youths. About 8 p.m., they went to the Greyhound Bus Station. At the station one Frederick Brown and defendant got into a taxicab, driven by John Dougherty, and the cab proceeded south on Broadway. One of the youths who had been with Brown and defendant at the bus terminal came back to where the others were parked and reported that Brown and defendant were going to 16th and Mullanphy. The others tried to follow the cab but lost it in the traffic and then drove to Brown’s house. Sometime later, Dougherty was found in the front seat of his cab at 16th and Mullanphy unconscious. A tooth was knocked out and he was bleeding from two stab wounds in his chest, which wounds proved fatal.
There was further testimony that Brown and defendant later went to Brown’s house and entered the back door into the kitchen where the other boys were assembled, and that theyN threw a watch and wallet on the table and said “that was all they got, they robbed the cab driver.”[2] The watch and wallet were later identified as having belonged to Dougherty. One of the youths told his father something about what had occurred and his father reported the matter to the police.
Brown was arrested the next day and pointed out to officers a garbage can in which they found portions of the partially burned wallet and pieces of charred paper that had been in it. The knife used in the murder was given to Niles Pursley by Brown’s girl friend and was recovered by the police.
Defendant, who apparently had no previous criminal record, was the only witness for the defense. He stated that after he and Brown entered the cab Brown whispered, “Let’s rob the cab driver,” but that he refused to go along with that plan and got out of the cab at 14th and Cass. He further stated that he later got another cab and went to 18th and Cass to see if Brown was at his mother-in-law’s house; that about that time he saw Brown walking up the street so they both got into another cab and went to Brown’s house, where they went inside. Defendant denied participating in the crime and denied that he and Brown walked into the kitchen and threw the watch and wallet on the table and said, “That’s all we got out of the robbery.”
[512 S.W.2d at 118.]
We may also note that Thomas was age 17 at the time of the crime and age 18 at the time of the trial.
Appellant’s claim to habeas corpus relief centers primarily upon the admitted failure of his retained trial counsel, Alfred I. Harris (now deceased), to interview any witnesses who might have lent support to petitioner’s testimony that he was not present at the time when John Dougherty was killed. The state court found that defense counsel Harris did not interview any witnesses but confined his investigation to dis[410]*410cussing the evidence with the prosecutor, learning of the confession of Frederick Brown, Jr. which implicated the petitioner,3 and reviewing the contents of the state’s file, which included statements of the witnesses endorsed by the state on the indictment. See note 6 infra, for an explanation of the practice of endorsement.
Petitioner asserts that there were at least three groups of witnesses which his attorney should have interviewed. First and foremost, petitioner asserts that his counsel should have interviewed Frederick Brown, who had admitted participating in the killing. Brown was clearly available to defense counsel had he wished to conduct an interview. Harris was retained as petitioner’s attorney shortly after petitioner was first arrested in February of 1967. Petitioner was confined in the St. Louis city jail from that time until his trial on November 13, 1967. Brown was confined in the same jail. He pleaded guilty to murdering Dougherty on October 17, 1967, and remained in the St. Louis city jail until November 9, 1967, four days before the commencement of petitioner’s trial.
The second group of potential witnesses were those other young men who were with Thomas and Brown before and after the killing. Harris evidently made no attempt to interview any of these individuals. Several of these were endorsed on the indictment as potential state witnesses and two, Lonnie Anderson and Niles Pursley, testified for the state at trial.
Thirdly, Harris made no attempt to interview any of the individuals which petitioner asserted he had met at the house of Brown’s mother-in-law during his search for Brown after he claimed he had gotten out of the cab. These individuals were Brown’s wife, and her cousin. The state court found that had Harris contacted these individuals they would have testified “that Sanford Thomas arrived at their house at some time during the evening and then left.” The factual basis for this finding is not clear as these persons did not testify at any post-conviction hearing. Evidently the state court either credited petitioner’s testimony or assumed these witnesses would support Brown’s statement in some degree. Petitioner testified at the post-conviction hearings that not only would these individuals have confirmed that he came to their house, but also would have testified that he came there alone and that he was looking for Brown.4
It is not clear why defense counsel made no attempt to contact the persons present at the house of Brown’s mother-in-law. They were not endorsed on the indictment as witnesses for the state. Evidently counsel was content to rely on Thomas’ testimony alone to establish the facts to which these witnesses could testify.
However, matters are clearer with respect to defense counsel’s failure to interview Brown and the other young men who were present before and after the alleged crime. These individuals had been endorsed [411]*411by the prosecutor upon the indictment as state witnesses. See note 6 infra. Defense counsel testified at the post-conviction hearings that in order to avoid the appearance of impropriety he followed an established custom of not interviewing any government witnesses.
Although Brown was endorsed as a state witness, he did not testify at trial. When the trial commenced, the prosecutor informed the court that Brown would not be called. Defense counsel objected, stating that he anticipated eliciting favorable testimony from Brown on cross-examination.5 The prosecutor then explained to the court that Brown was suffering from hepatitis and was quarantined.
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BRIGHT, Circuit Judge.
Sanford Thomas seeks habeas corpus relief from his conviction in the state courts of Missouri of first degree murder and from his sentence of life imprisonment. The district court, after an evidentiary hearing, denied Thomas any relief. Thomas appeals, asserting that the assistance afforded by his retained trial counsel fell below minimal constitutional standards and that the prosecutor violated due process by falsely stating that a crucial witness was unavailable due to illness. Thomas has fully exhausted his state remedies.1
[409]*409The basic facts underlying petitioner’s conviction are relatively uncomplicated. The Missouri Supreme Court accurately summarized them as follows:
On Sunday evening, November 27, 1966, defendant had been riding around the North Florissant and Cass Avenue neighborhood in St. Louis with a number of other youths. About 8 p.m., they went to the Greyhound Bus Station. At the station one Frederick Brown and defendant got into a taxicab, driven by John Dougherty, and the cab proceeded south on Broadway. One of the youths who had been with Brown and defendant at the bus terminal came back to where the others were parked and reported that Brown and defendant were going to 16th and Mullanphy. The others tried to follow the cab but lost it in the traffic and then drove to Brown’s house. Sometime later, Dougherty was found in the front seat of his cab at 16th and Mullanphy unconscious. A tooth was knocked out and he was bleeding from two stab wounds in his chest, which wounds proved fatal.
There was further testimony that Brown and defendant later went to Brown’s house and entered the back door into the kitchen where the other boys were assembled, and that theyN threw a watch and wallet on the table and said “that was all they got, they robbed the cab driver.”[2] The watch and wallet were later identified as having belonged to Dougherty. One of the youths told his father something about what had occurred and his father reported the matter to the police.
Brown was arrested the next day and pointed out to officers a garbage can in which they found portions of the partially burned wallet and pieces of charred paper that had been in it. The knife used in the murder was given to Niles Pursley by Brown’s girl friend and was recovered by the police.
Defendant, who apparently had no previous criminal record, was the only witness for the defense. He stated that after he and Brown entered the cab Brown whispered, “Let’s rob the cab driver,” but that he refused to go along with that plan and got out of the cab at 14th and Cass. He further stated that he later got another cab and went to 18th and Cass to see if Brown was at his mother-in-law’s house; that about that time he saw Brown walking up the street so they both got into another cab and went to Brown’s house, where they went inside. Defendant denied participating in the crime and denied that he and Brown walked into the kitchen and threw the watch and wallet on the table and said, “That’s all we got out of the robbery.”
[512 S.W.2d at 118.]
We may also note that Thomas was age 17 at the time of the crime and age 18 at the time of the trial.
Appellant’s claim to habeas corpus relief centers primarily upon the admitted failure of his retained trial counsel, Alfred I. Harris (now deceased), to interview any witnesses who might have lent support to petitioner’s testimony that he was not present at the time when John Dougherty was killed. The state court found that defense counsel Harris did not interview any witnesses but confined his investigation to dis[410]*410cussing the evidence with the prosecutor, learning of the confession of Frederick Brown, Jr. which implicated the petitioner,3 and reviewing the contents of the state’s file, which included statements of the witnesses endorsed by the state on the indictment. See note 6 infra, for an explanation of the practice of endorsement.
Petitioner asserts that there were at least three groups of witnesses which his attorney should have interviewed. First and foremost, petitioner asserts that his counsel should have interviewed Frederick Brown, who had admitted participating in the killing. Brown was clearly available to defense counsel had he wished to conduct an interview. Harris was retained as petitioner’s attorney shortly after petitioner was first arrested in February of 1967. Petitioner was confined in the St. Louis city jail from that time until his trial on November 13, 1967. Brown was confined in the same jail. He pleaded guilty to murdering Dougherty on October 17, 1967, and remained in the St. Louis city jail until November 9, 1967, four days before the commencement of petitioner’s trial.
The second group of potential witnesses were those other young men who were with Thomas and Brown before and after the killing. Harris evidently made no attempt to interview any of these individuals. Several of these were endorsed on the indictment as potential state witnesses and two, Lonnie Anderson and Niles Pursley, testified for the state at trial.
Thirdly, Harris made no attempt to interview any of the individuals which petitioner asserted he had met at the house of Brown’s mother-in-law during his search for Brown after he claimed he had gotten out of the cab. These individuals were Brown’s wife, and her cousin. The state court found that had Harris contacted these individuals they would have testified “that Sanford Thomas arrived at their house at some time during the evening and then left.” The factual basis for this finding is not clear as these persons did not testify at any post-conviction hearing. Evidently the state court either credited petitioner’s testimony or assumed these witnesses would support Brown’s statement in some degree. Petitioner testified at the post-conviction hearings that not only would these individuals have confirmed that he came to their house, but also would have testified that he came there alone and that he was looking for Brown.4
It is not clear why defense counsel made no attempt to contact the persons present at the house of Brown’s mother-in-law. They were not endorsed on the indictment as witnesses for the state. Evidently counsel was content to rely on Thomas’ testimony alone to establish the facts to which these witnesses could testify.
However, matters are clearer with respect to defense counsel’s failure to interview Brown and the other young men who were present before and after the alleged crime. These individuals had been endorsed [411]*411by the prosecutor upon the indictment as state witnesses. See note 6 infra. Defense counsel testified at the post-conviction hearings that in order to avoid the appearance of impropriety he followed an established custom of not interviewing any government witnesses.
Although Brown was endorsed as a state witness, he did not testify at trial. When the trial commenced, the prosecutor informed the court that Brown would not be called. Defense counsel objected, stating that he anticipated eliciting favorable testimony from Brown on cross-examination.5 The prosecutor then explained to the court that Brown was suffering from hepatitis and was quarantined. After being so informed, the trial court declined to order the prosecution to call Brown as a witness, but offered to provide assistance to the defense should it wish to call Brown. This offer was never accepted.
It now has been stipulated that the prosecutor was in error when he stated that Brown was quarantined at the time of trial. The basis for this mistake is not clear. There is some indication that a prisoner with a very similar name was in isolation at that time.
All of these events became revealed in dramatic highlight two years after petitioner’s conviction when Brown recanted his statements implicating petitioner in the murder. He announced that he had implicated petitioner in order to protect two other individuals who were his close friends. He further stated that had he been interviewed by defense counsel, he would have told the truth at that time. Petitioner asserts that this clearly demonstrates that his counsel’s failure to conduct an adequate investigation deprived him of effective assistance of counsel. Petitioner also asserts that in light of Brown’s present testimony, the prosecutor’s misrepresentation that Brown was unavailable at the time of the trial amounted to a denial of due process and requires reversal.
Standard of Review. I.
The district court expressed some uncertainty as to the proper constitutional standard by which petitioner’s claim of ineffective assistance of counsel should be assessed. After reviewing our decisions the district court concluded that this circuit still adheres to the “farce or mockery of justice” standard. Applying this standard the district court denied petitioner any relief. However, the district court made the following observations:
This is, undeniably, a close case. If the applicable rule were * * * “reasonably competent assistance of counsel”, I believe petitioner would not have been afforded his constitutional right to assistance of counsel.
Because there has been some variance in the language of our opinions and because the proper standard is important in determining this close case, we think it advisable for us to review the applicable law of this circuit.
We first considered an allegation of inadequate investigation and preparation by counsel in Cardarella v. United States, 375 F.2d 222 (8th Cir. 1967). There we said that
a charge of inadequate representation can prevail “only if it can be said that what was or was not done by the defendant’s attorney for his client made the proceedings a farce and a mockery of justice, shocking to the conscience of the Court.” [Id. at 230 (numerous citations omitted)].
As the cases cited in support of that statement demonstrate, the “farce and mockery” standard was universally accepted at that time.
However, having enunciated this apparently harsh standard, the Cardarella court then undertook a careful analysis of appellant’s claim. The court first noted that the general competence of Cardarella’s counsel was unquestioned. The opinion of the district court was quoted as follows:
[412]*412His chief counsel has long been recognized as one of the most outstanding criminal lawyers at the Kansas City Bar, both Federal and State, and has enjoyed unusual success in the trial of criminal cases.
His associate counsel was a former member of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and former assistant to the Attorney General of the United States, and long engaged in the practice of law at the Kansas City Bar. [Id. at 229.]
Although convinced of defense counsel’s general competence and effectiveness, the court then examined the three specific grounds which appellant claimed demonstrated inadequacy. Two of the grounds concerned counsel’s choice of issues to urge on appeal. These were found to lack substantial merit. The third ground was counsel’s failure to discover two police reports. The court carefully examined the reports, analyzed their availability to counsel and concluded that counsel’s failure to discover one of the reports demonstrated a “ ‘lack of diligence,’ in a legal sense.” Id. at 232.
The court therefore undertook to review the entire record to determine whether this error by counsel was so prejudicial as to warrant reversal. The court concluded that there had been no “failure to present the case in any fundamental respect” and that
[t]he one instance in which there was a “lack of diligence,” in a legal sense, in “discovering” evidence does not suffice to overcome the overwhelming proof of record demonstrating the adequacy and ability of counsel, particularly where the evidence in question, even if availed of, could not have produced a different result. Our examination of both the trial and appellate record satisfies us that counsel for all defendants thoroughly prepared and tried the case with great resourcefulness, competently presented the available defenses, and disclosed all weaknesses and inconsistencies in the government’s case. [Id. at 232.]
Our subsequent cases have followed the approach of Cardarella in assessing claims that an attorney’s inadequate investigation or preparation denied a defendant’s right to assistance of counsel. In Garton v. Swenson, 497 F.2d 1137 (8th Cir. 1974), the district court had denied a habeas petition without an evidentiary hearing, ruling that the “farce and mockery” standard precluded relief. We reversed and remanded for a full hearing. Judge Stephenson’s opinion emphasized that
[w]e have based our decisions concerning effectiveness of counsel upon the particulars of each case. The standard for effectiveness is not easily reduced to precise words capable of rigid application. [Id. at 1140.]
In Wolfs v. Britton, 509 F.2d 304 (8th Cir. 1975), the tardy appointment of trial counsel had compelled him to try the case by the “seat of his pants.” Petitioner urged that he had been denied his right to effective assistance of counsel even though his attorney’s general ability and trial performance were unquestioned. We noted our obligation to proceed on an “ad hoc” basis giving due consideration to all factors bearing on counsel’s performance and any resulting prejudice, including the strength of the government’s case. Id. at 310. We decided that under the “combination of circumstances” counsel’s lack of time to adequately prepare and investigate denied petitioner his right to effective assistance of counsel.
Our case most similar to the present one is McQueen v. Swenson, 498 F.2d 207 (8th Cir. 1974). McQueen reaffirmed the traditional “farce or mockery” standard. However, it included the following explanation:
Stringent as the “mockery of justice” standard may seem, we have never intended it to be used as a shibboleth to avoid a searching evaluation of possible constitutional violations; nor has it been so used in this circuit. It was not intended that the “mockery of justice” standard be taken literally, but rather that it be employed as an embodiment of the principle that a petitioner must shoulder a heavy burden in proving unfairness. [Id. at 214.]
[413]*413See Garza v. Wolff, 528 F.2d 208 (8th Cir. 1975) (Ross, J., dissenting).
II. Burden of Proof.
As we said in McQueen, the failure of defense counsel to provide adequate assistance is a unique form of constitutional error. It creates a “flaw in the adversary process”, id. at 218-19, not attributable to the fault of either the government or defendant, and it undermines the integrity of the trial process in which all parties have a vital interest. However, despite the importance of assuring that a defendant is not denied adequate assistance of counsel, we emphasized that “there is and should be a presumption that counsel is competent,” id. at 216, and we reiterated the “sound precept” that “the exercise of a defense attorney’s professional judgment should not be second-guessed by hindsight.” Id. Because of these considerations we recognized that one challenging an attorney’s exercise of professional judgment must “shoulder a heavy burden.” Id. at 214.
However, these general considerations were found to be largely undercut by the defense counsel’s custom of not interviewing government witnesses. There defense counsel testified that
I never like to go out and interview State’s witnesses. That is the duty of a detective or somebody to go to the Court and make an application. It is too subject to bribery offers. It puts you in a bad light. You can be accused of many things. I don’t care to get into that. [498 F.2d at 212.]
Trial counsel in this case has testified he followed an identical custom. In McQueen, we found that this “absurd and dangerous policy” contravened the attorney’s essential duty to make an adequate factual investigation and could only be viewed “as an abdication — not an exercise — of his professional judgment.” Id. at 216.
Such a wholesale abdication of responsibility is significant in two respects. First, the failure of an attorney to exercise his professional judgment on behalf of his client is itself a serious breach of the lawyer’s duty.6 Second, and more important, for counsel habitually to disregard available information tends to erode the presumption of regularity and competence which normally attaches to an attorney’s decision.7
However, in McQueen, we made clear that:
Our inquiry as to whether or not to grant relief is not concluded by finding a constitutional violation in the failure of petitioner’s attorney to make an adequate investigation of the case. Evaluation of a habeas corpus petition alleging ineffec[414]*414tive assistance of counsel is a two-step process: first, determining * * * whether there has been a failure to perform some duty, as essential as the duty of investigation, owed by a defense attorney to his client; and second, determining * * * whether that failure prejudiced his defense. [498 F.2d at 218.]
Clearly, a defendant must bear the initial burden of demonstrating that counsel failed to perform some essential duty. However, once this failure has been established, it is not so clear which party bears the burden of establishing that counsel’s error so significantly undercut the reliability of the trial process as to require reversal. As we recognized in McQueen, the circuits disagree on this point. Id. at 219. After reviewing the leading cases on both sides of the issue, we adopted a “flexible approach,” generally imposing the burden of demonstrating unfairness on the petitioner. Id. at 220. This decision was based on two considerations. First, we are unwilling to disturb criminal convictions simply on the basis of theoretical flaws that have no real world consequences. Secondly, as a practical matter, we recognize that proof of prejudice is usually more within the knowledge of the petitioner.
The allocation of this burden is a judicial tool designed to assist in the determination of the truth. If the particular circumstances of the case require a different allocation of the burden, that allocation will be adopted. Cf. Wolfs v. Britton, supra. Secondly, we emphasized that where the attorney’s breach of duty has been serious, it is not necessary that the petitioner demonstrate by a preponderance of the evidence that adequate representation would have produced an acquittal. The petitioner need only shoulder the additional burden of showing that the alleged error itself sufficiently undercut the reliability of the trial process to have prejudiced the petitioner’s right to a fair trial. As there had been no evidentiary hearing in McQueen directed to whether prejudice flowed from ineffective assistance of counsel, we remanded for a further evidentiary hearing. Here we have a full record. We, therefore, address the question of prejudice.
III. Proof of Prejudice in This Case.
We have already held that defense counsel-Harris’ failure to interview any witnesses pursuant to his absurd and dangerous general policy against doing so constituted a breach of an essential duty owed by counsel to petitioner. Therefore, we must consider whether the effects of that breach of duty raise a serious question as to the reliability of the trial process in this case. The Missouri Supreme Court held that the petitioner had not met his burden of showing prejudice. Relevant portions of the court’s opinion are excerpted in the margin:6 *8
The question presented for our consideration requires that we examine the record to [415]*415determine whether the absence of investigation by Thomas’ counsel prejudiced the petitioner in failing to obtain a fair trial. We held in McQueen that
the petitioner must shoulder an initial burden of showing the existence of admissible evidence which could have been uncovered by reasonable investigation and which would have proved helpful to the defendant either on cross-examination or in his case-in-chief at the original trial. [498 F.2d at 220.]
As we have already noted, Brown has recanted his confession and supported Thomas’ claim of innocence, first by an affidavit signed on November 3, 1969, almost two years after the Thomas trial. Brown supplemented his affidavit by his testimony given at the Missouri post-conviction hearings stating that Lonnie Anderson, who had followed the taxicab in an automobile, and Walter Williams,9 who entered the cab prior to the crime, participated with Brown in Dougherty’s murder. He further stated that in his confession he had implicated Thomas to cover up the participation of Williams and Anderson. He explained that he had decided to tell the truth because neither Anderson nor Williams had done anything to help him (Brown) while incarcerated. He also testified that if he had been called as a witness at the Thomas trial, he would have told the truth, i.e., that Thomas was innocent.
This testimony if produced at Thomas’ trial and if believed by the jury, would have mandated an acquittal. Even if Thomas’ counsel had made a reasoned decision not to call Brown in order to preclude his confession as impeachment evidence, the information now uncovered would have armed Thomas’ counsel with ammunition upon which to cross-examine witnesses Anderson and Niles Pursley. The original trial record, which is part of the record in this case, discloses that Anderson was arrested following this crime. Pursley was another of the young men who had been with Brown at the bus station and at Brown’s home the evening of the crime, and who testified for the state.
Anderson testified at the murder trial that on the day after the crime, Brown, in admitting that he had stabbed the cab driver, made no mention of Thomas’ presence. See 512 S.W.2d 124 (dissenting opinion). At the murder trial Anderson testified that he told a police officer Brown said on entering his apartment “we stuck up a cab driver,” then laughed and said “Yeah, I stabbed him.”
In the statement of facts summarized supra, the testimony indicated that one of the other young men who had been with Brown at the bus station reported that “Brown and defendant were going to 16th and Mullanphy.” Brown’s postconviction testimony indicated that Williams got in the cab at 16th and Mullanphy.
With this background, counsel for Thomas was in a position to vigorously pursue [416]*416state’s witnesses Anderson and Niles Pursley, determine whether Pursley’s version of Brown’s statement that “they robbed the cab driver” meant Brown and Thomas or Brown and one of the other young men, and to otherwise cast doubt on the prosecution’s theory that Brown and Thomas remained together from the time witnesses testified to their entry into Dougherty’s cab until witnesses placed them both at Brown’s apartment at a later time.
Finally, knowledge of this information would have cast doubt upon defense counsel’s ready acceptance of the state’s evidence 10 and should have motivated inquiry of those present at the home of Brown’s mother-in-law to ascertain whether Thomas had separated from Brown at any time after the two of them got into the cab at the bus station. But attorney Harris’ failure to investigate foreclosed every avenue of support for Thomas’ consistent protestation of innocence, a position which partakes of some credence since at the opening of trial he declined to accept a 10-year sentence in return for a guilty plea. Harris also testified that Thomas was “very adamant in his position.”
The Missouri courts and the federal district court found Brown’s statement as lacking credibility — in the words of the federal district court “unbelievable.” In denying relief, the district court therefore concluded:
Under all the evidence, this Court finds that petitioner has failed to sustain his burden under McQueen of showing that there existed admissible evidence from witnesses “which could have been uncovered by reasonable investigation and which would have proved helpful to the defendant ... at the original trial.”
But credibility does not constitute the standard for evaluating the evidence which could have been uncovered by an investigation.
We said in McQueen :
We ought not to intervene in the criminal process unless and until it can be shown that the alleged error itself prejudiced the petitioner in obtaining a fair trial. But this is not to say that, on remand, petitioner must prove his innocence even by so much as a preponderance of the evidence; nor should we be understood to suggest that the Court may trespass upon what properly would have been the jury’s province of weighing the truth or falsity of this evidence at the original trial. What we are saying is that, here, the petitioner must shoulder an initial burden of showing the existence of admissible evidence which could have been uncovered by reasonable investigation and which would have proved helpful to the defendant either on cross-examination or in his case-in-chief at the original trial. Once this showing is made, a new trial is warranted unless the court is able to declare a belief that the omission of such evidence was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. [498 F.2d at 220.]
The petitioner has demonstrated that reasonable investigation by Thomas’ attorney could have uncovered admissible evidence which would have proved helpful to the defendant either on cross-examination or in his case-in-chief at the original trial.11 It cannot be said that the evidence is inherently incredible for it is supported by the accused’s testimony. The uncovered evidence would be admissible upon a retrial of Thomas. True, this evidence may be considerably tainted through impeachment. But once it is shown that defense counsel breached an essential duty, the sufficiency [417]*417of petitioner’s proof of prejudice turns on whether admissible evidence has been uncovered which a jury could reasonably weigh in assessing guilt or innocence. Obviously a jury could believe all or part of the evidence here under scrutiny. Under the circumstances of this case, we cannot say that the omission of such evidence at the petitioner’s trial was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. Petitioner’s proof of prejudice should not be defeated by the district court’s low opinion of the credibility of relevant and admissible testimony.
Accordingly, we reverse and remand this case and direct the district court to issue the writ of habeas corpus discharging petitioner, subject to the right of the state, if it wishes to do so, to try him on the indictment here involved within 90 days of the time the mandate of this court reaches the district court.
Reversed and remanded.