Opinion ID: 853980
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Woods' Principal Ineffectiveness Claim

Text: Four months before trial began, Woods' court-appointed attorney, Charles Rhetts Jr., was allowed to withdraw from the representation due to a possible conflict of interest. Allen Wharry and Douglas Johnston replaced Rhetts and defended Woods at trial. As explained in Part VI below, Woods now argues that Rhetts' conflict of interest and failure to disclose the details of the conflict to Woods or his new lawyers tainted the entire trial. After Woods was convicted, Wharry filed a motion to correct error. Under the law at that time, this motion controlled the issues available on direct appeal. Ward v. State, 519 N.E.2d 561, 562 (Ind.1988). No claim of ineffective assistance was raised in the motion. New counsel was then appointed to represent Woods on direct appeal. The postconviction court found that any claim of ineffective assistance based on the conflict was waived for failure to present the issue on direct appeal. In this appeal, the State contends that even if ineffective assistance was not waived, the claim fails on its merits. Woods maintains that the claim is available on collateral review because the facts supporting the claimthe details of the conflictwere not apparent from the trial record on direct appeal. For this reason, he contends that successor trial counsel Wharry cannot reasonably have been expected to present the issue in the motion to correct error so as to preserve it for direct appeal. [1] Woods also raises other grounds to support his claim of ineffective assistance.