Ineffective Assistance of Counsel

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Jonathon Adeyanju v. Lance Wiersma

Case No.: 20-1876

Officials: FLAUM, HAMILTON, and BRENNAN, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Ineffective Assistance of Counsel

For his role in a gang shooting, a jury convicted Jonathon Adeyanju of attempted homicide and endangering safety by use of a firearm. His primary defense at trial was that he was not involved, as no physical evidence connected him to the crime, and he said the State’s witnesses could not be trusted. Adeyanju’s counsel contended that the shooters—whoever they were—intended to scare but not to kill their gang rivals, so they were guilty of the endangering safety charges but not attempted homicide.

His counsel was ineffective, Adeyanju submits, because he should have requested a jury instruction on a lesser-included offense to attempted homicide—first-degree recklessly endangering safety. Then, the jury could have found that he was among the shooters but did not intend to kill anyone. But the jury already had that option with the endangering safety by use of a firearm charges, which it chose not to take. Because Adeyanju fails to show that he was prejudiced by counsel’s purported error, we affirm the district court’s denial of his 28 U.S.C. § 2254 petition.

Affirmed

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Derek A Hawkins is Corporate Counsel, at Salesforce.