Ineffective Assistance of Counsel

7th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Kendrick Lee v. Lisa Avila

Case No.: 15-1976

Officials: POSNER, EASTERBROOK, and SYKES, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Ineffective Assistance of Counsel

Lee urges us to apply de novo review to his remaining claim regarding counsel’s failure to object to aspects of the prosecutor’s closing argument. No path to de novo review is available here. The Richter presumption applies and Lee has failed to rebut it. Lee has not given us any good reason to think that counsel’s failure to object during closing argument was either deficient or prejudicial, let alone that the state court’s implicit contrary conclusion was unreasonable.

Affirmed

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.