Opinion ID: 2319400
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 19

Heading: Reasonable probability and undermined confidence

Text: For the reasons that I have discussed at some length, this is a not a one-sided case. Indeed, it has divided the court. I have no doubt that reasonable minds could, and do, legitimately differ as to whether Long has proved that he has been prejudiced in the Strickland sense. Nevertheless, I am of the opinion that in this case, defense counsel's failure to bring Plummer's first trial testimony to the attention of the jury at the second trial deprived Long of important and potentially decisive exculpatory evidence. One might reasonably reach the same conclusion even if the second trial had been Long's only trial, and if no comparison with the first trial (and its hung jury) could be included in the calculus. In any event, the different results of the two trials are not so astonishing when, at the trial at which the defense presented testimony that another man had confessed to the murder, the jurors did not convict, but, at the trial at which the defense presented no such evidence, the defendant was found guilty. Under the regime of Strickland, Long was required to establish a reasonable probability that but for his counsel's deficient performance, the outcome of his second trial would have been more favorable to him. He did not, however, have to show by a preponderance of the evidence that counsel's deficient performance brought about his conviction. Ultimately, the test is whether counsel's error undermine[d] confidence in the outcome. Strickland, 466 U.S. at 694, 104 S.Ct. 2052. I am of the opinion that Long has made the requisite showing. Confidence is a strong word, and one which the Court in Strickland surely used advisedly. It is possible that the outcome of Long's trial would have been the same even if Plummer's first trial testimony had been presented to the jury, but I cannot say that I have confidence that this is so. Accordingly, I would reverse Long's convictions [18] because, albeit in only one isolated but nevertheless critical respect, he has been denied the effective assistance of counsel.