Miscellaneous

Urban Legend Debunked

By Anne Skove, Esq.

Claims of ineffective assistance of counsel are approaching stories about pop-tops and naughty gerbils. Everybody *says* they are the victim of ineffective assistance of counsel, but after reading some of these cases one wonders if there is such a thing.

Yes, Washington, there is! The Washington State Court of Appeals reversed a first-degree murder conviction of a man who had committed patricide. The ineffective lawyer in question neglected to inform the jury about lesser-included offenses, giving them only the stark choice between first-degree murder or innocence.

See Murder Conviction Reversed for WA Man Who Killed His Father, AP/Seattle Post-Intelligencer (June 3, 2008).

Full post as published by court-o-rama.org on June 03, 2008 (boomark / email).