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04-1602 Badelle v. Correll

By: dmc-admin//June 26, 2006//

04-1602 Badelle v. Correll

By: dmc-admin//June 26, 2006//

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“The Indiana court tackled Badelle’s argument by first noting that his defense was based on a theory of mistaken identity and then describing the efforts trial counsel undertook to support that defense. These included the following: (1) presenting testimony that Floyd Piles, the gas station owner, picked Reginald White out of a lineup on one occasion; (2) presenting testimony from Edwin Kennedy that Badelle was not the man who helped push his vehicle out of the gas station lot on the day of the crime; (3) challenging the mental competence of prosecution witness Joe Harris; and (4) presenting testimony from Detectives Highbaugh and Morgan regarding the other individuals they considered suspects during the course of their investigation. Badelle II, 754 N.E.2d at 539. The court concluded its analysis as follows: ‘Clearly the foregoing is not an exhaustive list of the evidence that Trial Counsel presented to the jury, however it suffices for our purposes of determining whether Trial Counsel provided adequate pretrial investigation and preparation. Trial Counsel’s efforts were more than adequate to support his defense of mistaken identity. Accordingly, Trial Counsel’s decision not to call or seek out additional witnesses was a judgment call “within the wide range of reasonable professional assistance.”’

“Badelle claims this analysis is at odds with Strickland because it sidesteps consideration of the individual errors or omissions allegedly constituting defective performance in favor of an analysis of counsel’s performance as a whole. But Badelle did not describe (and still has not described) the particular pretrial investigative errors or omissions that form the basis of this aspect of his ineffective assistance of counsel claim. In the absence of a particularized claim of pretrial error by trial counsel, the Indiana court can hardly be faulted for its generalized evaluation of counsel’s overall performance. In any event, the premise of Badelle’s argument is flawed; the test for deficient performance is applied ‘in light of all the circumstances.’ Strickland, 466 U.S. at 690.”

Affirmed.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, McKinney, J., Sykes, J.

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