Title: Casey Matthews v. State of Arkansas

State: arkansas

Issuer: Arkansas Supreme Court

Document:

Casey MATTHEWS v. STATE Of Arkansas

CR 97-461                                          ___ S.W.2d ___

                    Supreme Court of Arkansas
                Opinion delivered April 23, 1998


1.   Attorney & client -- ineffective-assistance claim -- proof
     required. -- To prevail on a claim of ineffective assistance
     of counsel, the petitioner must show first that counsel's
     performance was deficient; this requires showing that counsel
     made errors so serious that counsel was not functioning as the
     "counsel" guaranteed the petitioner by the Sixth Amendment;
     second, the petitioner must show that the deficient
     performance prejudiced the defense, which requires showing
     that counsel's errors were so serious as to deprive the
     petitioner of a fair trial; unless a petitioner makes both
     showings, it cannot be said that the conviction resulted from
     a breakdown in the adversarial process that renders the result
     unreliable; a court must indulge in a strong presumption that
     counsel's conduct falls within the wide range of reasonable
     professional assistance; the petitioner must show there is a
     reasonable probability that, but for counsel's errors, the
     factfinder would have had a reasonable doubt respecting guilt,
     i.e., the decision reached would have been different absent
     the errors; a reasonable probability is a probability
     sufficient to undermine confidence in the outcome of the
     trial; in making a determination on a claim of
     ineffectiveness, the totality of the evidence before the judge
     or jury must be considered.
2.   Appeal & error -- postconviction relief -- denial of -- when
     reversed. -- A circuit court's order denying postconviction
     relief will not be reversed unless it is clearly erroneous.  

3.   Attorney & client -- incompetence asserted for first time in
     petition for postconviction relief -- burden of proof. -- A
     petitioner who asserts his incompetence for the first time in
     a petition for postconviction relief has the heavy burden of
     demonstrating with facts that he was not competent at the time
     of trial or at the time of his guilty plea.

4.   Attorney & client -- incompetence asserted for first time in
     petition for postconviction relief -- defense counsel not
     ineffective for failing to request mental evaluation. --
     Appellant's defense counsel was not ineffective for failing to
     request a mental evaluation where, other than appellant's own
     testimony, the only indication that he suffered from any
     mental disability appeared on a personal-history
     questionnaire, where it was indicated that appellant, at least
     two years prior to the filing of the charges, had a "drug-
     related" disability.   

4.   Attorney & client -- failure to investigate potential
     witnesses alleged -- appellant failed to demonstrate
     prejudice. -- Although appellant told his attorney about
     several people who could testify about his character, he did
     not explain during either his testimony or in his petition
     what the contents of their testimony would have been or how it
     would have affected his defense; therefore, even if it was
     assumed that counsel performed deficiently by failing to
     investigate these witnesses, appellant failed to demonstrate
     prejudice under the two-pronged standard of Strickland v.
     Washington,