Court Opinion

ID: 9461205
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 22:08:33.93725+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:36:56.727452
License: Public Domain

THORNBERRY, Circuit Judge
(concurring and dissenting):
I concur in the majority’s discussion and conclusions concerning appellee’s first trial. I cannot agree, however, that Burston’s attorney provided him reasonably effective assistance at his second trial. I do not believe that the district judge clearly erred in finding that Armstrong, represented by the same lawyer who represented Burston, was tried and found not guilty of the crime of which the same jury later that day found Burston guilty. The majority’s argument on this point appears to be that Armstrong was granted something akin to a directed verdict of acquittal ; this appears unlikely in light of Georgia law in 1935, as so ably elucidated in the majority opinion. Likewise, I remain unconvinced that Askew’s testimony was intended to exculpate rather than inculpate Burston. Accordingly, I would affirm the district judge as to appellee’s second trial.