Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

Ineffective Assistance of Counsel

By: Derek Hawkins//November 23, 2016//

Ineffective Assistance of Counsel

By: Derek Hawkins//November 23, 2016//

Listen to this article

7th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Cortez Jones v. Victor Calloway

Case No.: 15-1174

Officials: EASTERBROOK, ROVNER, and SYKES, Circuit Judges

Focus: Ineffective Assistance of Counsel

Ruling on Jones’s § 2254 petition, the district court excused the procedural default based on new evidence of Jones’s actual innocence—namely, Stone’s testimony. After an evidentiary hearing, the judge concluded that the state appellate court unreasonably applied Strickland and that trial counsel’s failure to present Stone’s testimony was constitutionally ineffective representation. The judge accordingly granted the petition and ordered Jones retried or released.

We affirm. The judge’s decision to excuse the procedural default was sound, as was his merits ruling. Trial counsel’s failure to call Stone cannot reasonably be classified as a mere matter of trial strategy within the range of objectively reasonable professional judgments. Omitting the available testimony of the man who admits to being the lone shooter was both constitutionally deficient performance and prejudicial.

Affirm

Full Text


Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.

Polls

Should Steven Avery be granted a new evidentiary hearing?

View Results

Loading ... Loading ...

Legal News

See All Legal News

WLJ People

Sea all WLJ People

Opinion Digests