Opinion ID: 853872
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Trial Counsel During Guilt, Penalty, and Sentencing Phases

Text: The defendant challenges the post-conviction court's rejection of his claim that he was denied a fair trial because his trial counsel provided ineffective assistance at the guilt, penalty, and sentencing phases, and thereby failed to subject the State's case to meaningful adversarial testing. The post-conviction court concluded that the defendant was not denied the effective assistance of trial counsel at the guilt, penalty, and sentencing phases: The evidence demonstrated that trial counsels' actions did not fall below the prevailing standards in the legal community at that time. The evidence demonstrated that trial counsel filed many pleadings on behalf of [the defendant], conducted a reasonable investigation into [the defendant's] family, social and medical background, and presented an adequate defense on behalf of [the defendant] at the guilt phase, penalty phase, and sentencing hearing during [the defendant's] trial. Certainly, in hindsight, trial counsel could have possibly expanded on areas of [the defendant's] defense but, based upon the evidence presented, failure to do so was not ineffective assistance of counsel. P.C.R. Record at 324. Thus, the post-conviction court concluded that the defendant failed to carry his burden of demonstrating deficient performance and prejudice.