09-3025 Koons v. U.S.

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Criminal Procedure
Ineffective assistance

Where the defendant never informed his attorney of facts giving rise an alleged Fourth Amendment violation, counsel was not deficient. “But even if Koons’s allegations about the search are true, his appeal is foreclosed by the fact that he never informed trial counsel of the facts giving rise to the alleged Fourth Amendment violation. See Strickland, 466 U.S. at 689 (‘A fair assessment of attorney performance requires that every effort be made to eliminate the distorting effects of hindsight, to reconstruct the circumstances of counsel’s challenged conduct, and to evaluate the conduct from counsel’s perspective at the time.’ (emphasis added)). Koons fails to allege in his petition, accompanying affidavit, or anywhere else in the record that he even once told trial counsel the version of events on April 19 that he posits on appeal. To the contrary, the two most relevant portions of his petition demonstrate that he never told trial counsel.”

Affirmed.

09-3025 Koons v. U.S.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, Young, J., Flaum, J.

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