UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. MARVIN WILBERT POWELL
US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, Niemeyer, March 1, 2017,
Ineffective Assistance- A defense attorney was not required to seek to disqualify a juror where she told the defendant’s father that “everything would be alright and that [he] needed to give [his] son a good kick in the butt.”
DUANE EDWARD BUCK, PETITIONER v. LORIE DAVIS, DIRECTOR, TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE
Supreme Court of the United States, Roberts, Feb. 22, 2017,
Ineffective Assistance of Counsel- Deficient and prejudicial where Defense presented an “expert” at sentencing who testified that the defendant was more likely to be violent because he was black.
(Dissent- Thomas and Alito- COA should not have been granted; also, Strickland prejudice was not shown)
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NICANOR PEREZ RODRIGUEZ v. DENNIS BUSH
US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, Floyd, Nov. 23, 2016,
IAC- Defense attorney’s failure to object when trial court rejected plea agreement was not ineffective assistance of counsel
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STATE OF MARYLAND v. JUAN CARLOS SANMARTIN PRADO
Court of Appeals, Watts, July 11, 2016,
Ineffective Assistance – Deportation – Not ineffective assistance of counsel where attorney advised during colloquy that it was a “deportable offense” and also advised before plea that there “probably would be immigration consequences.” No need to advise on whether deportation is guaranteed.
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JEFFREY WOODS, WARDEN v. TIMOTHY ETHERTON
Supreme Court of the United States, Per Curiam, Filed April 4, 2016,
AEDPA – Ineffective Assistance of Counsel – A federal AEDPA claim regarding ineffective assistance of counsel calls for the reviewing court to apply two levels of deference. The first level applies to the decision of the state court in question. The second level applies to the decisions of trial counsel.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. NICHOLAS RAGIN
US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, Gregory, Filed March 11, 2016,
Ineffective Assistance – A defendant is deprived of his Sixth Amendment right to counsel when counsel sleeps during a substantial portion of the defendant’s trial.
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ERIC ADAM GRUENINGER v. DIRECTOR, VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS
United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, Harris, Filed Feb. 9, 2016,
Ineffective Assistance of Counsel – Raising objection improperly was not a “tactical” decision; failure to object properly to confession in violation of Miranda was constitutionally deficient
MARYLAND, PETITIONER v. JAMES KULBICKI
Supreme Court of the United States, Per Curiam, Filed Oct. 5, 2015,
Ineffective Assistance of Counsel – Failure to “predict the demise” of a “widely accepted” scientific method was not ineffective assistance of counsel
JUAN CARLOS SANMARTIN PRADO v. STATE OF MARYLAND
Court of Special Appeals, Wright, Oct. 2, 2015,
Ineffective Assistance – Deportation – Suggesting to client that a deportable criminal act “could” result in deportation was constitutionally ineffective because it suggested that deportation wasn’t inevitable
(Criticism below)
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