A man on Texas death row was recently allowed to move forward in a criminal appeal concerning whether the man’s legal counsel was deficient during the sentencing phase of a trial involving allegations that the man strangled and raped a 16-year-old in Waco in the late 1980s. As part of this ruling, two of three… Read More
Federal law holds that to be successful, a person arguing an appeal on the basis of ineffective assistance of counsel must show that substandard service negatively affected the trial’s outcome. Another flaw in trials, called a “structural error,” will result in a defendant being granted a new trial even if the error did not result… Read More
In the recent case of Davila v.Davis, the Supreme Court analyzed the limit of ineffective assistance of counsel. Depending on the results of the trial, the defendant could avoid being sentenced to death for fatally shooting a 5-year-old girl and her grandmother. The main question in the case concerns whether the defendant’s first lawyer was… Read More
The law provides a number of complexities and pressures of being faced with criminal prosecution. United States Constitution recognized this and provided for the need of defendants in criminal cases to have counsel to represent them. One element of the 6th amendment is the right to assistance of counsel for a criminal defendant’s defense. Having… Read More
Being convicted and sentenced for a federal crime is a serious event. However, it is not the end of the story. You can still appeal the outcome. One of the things that you can claim on appeal is that your trial attorney was to blame for you not being acquitted at trial, or for the… Read More
A death penalty case from the state of Washington that had been appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States was recently rejected by the Court. However, despite the fact that it was rejected, the case still offers valuable insight into how difficult it is to overcome cases that involved ineffective assistance of counsel… Read More