Opinion ID: 78361
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Claim One: Lamarca Received Ineffective Assistance of Counsel at the Guilt Phase of His Trial.

Text: Lamarca maintains he received ineffective assistance of counsel because (1) his trial counsel failed to investigate and present the evidence of the benefits and motivations Jeremy Smith had to testify, (2) his trial counsel failed to challenge and impeach the testimony of Tonya Flynn, (3) his trial counsel failed to call Steve Slack as a witness to rebut the testimony of Tonya Flynn, and (4) his trial counsel failed to call James Zaccagnino to rebut the testimony of James Michael Hughes. [4] The benchmark for judging a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel is whether counsel's conduct so undermined the proper functioning of the adversarial process that the trial cannot be relied on as having produced a just result. Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 686, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 2064, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984). To make such a showing, the petitioner must demonstrate (1) counsel's performance was deficient, and (2) the deficient performance prejudiced the defense. Id. at 687, 104 S.Ct. at 2064. Under the first prong of the Strickland test, the petitioner must establish counsel made errors so serious that counsel was not functioning as the `counsel' guaranteed the defendant by the Sixth Amendment. Id., 104 S.Ct. at 2064. In other words, the petitioner must show that counsel's representation fell below an objective standard of reasonableness. Id. at 688, 104 S.Ct. at 2064. Judicial scrutiny of counsel's performance is highly deferential, id. at 689, 104 S.Ct. at 2065, and counsel cannot be adjudged incompetent for performing in a particular way in a case, as long as the approach taken `might be considered sound trial strategy,' Chandler v. United States, 218 F.3d 1305, 1314 (11th Cir.2000) (en banc) (quoting Darden v. Wainwright, 477 U.S. 168, 185, 106 S.Ct. 2464, 2474, 91 L.Ed.2d 144 (1986)). Under the prejudice prong of Strickland, the petitioner must show that there is a reasonable probability that, but for counsel's unprofessional errors, the result of the proceeding would have been different. Strickland, 466 U.S. at 694, 104 S.Ct. at 2068.