Opinion ID: 1768076
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Failure to Enforce Subpoena

Text: Beverly Lewis was a friend of Chappell's ex-wife. Chappell was charged in Leslie County with assaulting Lewis. As discussed above, the Leslie County charges against Chappell were ultimately dismissed. As explained in Bowling's brief, Lewis would have testified that Chappell hit her over the head with a lead pipe and that she did not know why the charges against Chappell were dismissed. Bowling argues that this testimony would have supported his allegations that defense counsel was ineffective for failing to investigate the dismissal of the Leslie County charges. The trial court ruled that there was no ineffective assistance of counsel in connection with the Leslie County charges and, thus, there was no reason to take Lewis's testimony. Like the trial court, we have strong doubts as to whether Lewis's testimony, as outlined in Bowling's brief, would have been admissible at Bowling's trial. Even if admissible, there is not a reasonable probability that the results of Bowling's trial would have been different had Lewis testified.