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Presidents’ Day week

By Karl R. Keys, Esq.

From the current edition of the weekly: Leading off this edition is a decision we missed last week, State v. Willie Herring, from Ohio’s Seventh District Court of Appeals. Herring is a bread and butter ineffective assistance of counsel claim.  Speciically, trial counsel’s mitigation investigation missed some rather low hanging fruit concerning a bad childhood, substance abuse, depression, low IQ, potential brain damage, and the lack of positive adult role models.  The court finds that the strategic choices made by trial counsel, in light of the defective investigation under Wiggins/Rompilla,  constituted noting more than “naked pleas for mercy.” “[G]iven what they could have uncovered with a complete investigation, counsel had scarcely any information about appellant’s background...continue to full post

Full post as published by Capital Defense Weekly on February 21, 2011 (boomark / email).