Opinion ID: 1642283
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: Failure to Investigate and Call a Witness

Text: Sanders' sister, Millicent Johnson, testified at trial that Sanders was at her home from 9:45 p.m. on the 24th until at least 4 o'clock the following morning. The defendant claims that Fletcher Young would have corroborated his sister's testimony, which the jury may have suspected due to the familial relationship. At the postconviction hearing, Young testified that Sanders was at Johnson's home when Young left the home at 10 or 11 p.m. on July 24. Because his attorney never contacted, investigated, or called Young as a witness, Sanders contends that he was denied effective assistance of counsel. Young's testimony does not provide Sanders with an alibi. Young may have seen the defendant at his sister's house at 10 or 11 p.m., but the perpetrator did not appear at the Nifty Bar until 11 to 11:30 p.m. Moreover, Sanders overlooks Officer Farmer's testimony that the defendant confessed to the crimes involved. In view of Young's flawed alibi testimony and Sanders' confession, there is no reasonable probability that if Sanders' counsel had investigated, interrogated, and called Young as a witness, the results of Sanders' trial would have been different.