Opinion ID: 1110827
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Failure to Call Alibi Witnesses.

Text: ¶ 15. During opening statements, defense counsel stated that Ashley had been seen in Memphis by several witnesses, including a man named Percy Pounders. Trial counsel issued a subpoena for Pounders' attendance but he failed to appear. The FBI report wherein Pounders identified Ashley's picture from a photo array indicates that the witness could not recall whether he saw Ashley on January 8 or January 9. Unless Pounders was to testify that he saw Ashley the day after the kidnaping and with someone other than Hughes, then his testimony is not nearly as crucial to establish an alibi defense. Further, trial counsel did call Sue Greenwood to testify that she saw Ashley in her store two days after her disappearance. The jury was apparently not convinced by her testimony and it cannot be said that Pounders' testimony would have changed the outcome at trial. [A] court deciding an actual ineffectiveness claim must judge the reasonableness of counsel's challenged conduct on the facts of the particular case viewed as of the time of counsel's conduct. Strickland, 466 U.S. at 690, 104 S.Ct. 2052. It is fair to say that in the present case, trial counsel did their best under the circumstances. This issue is without merit.