Uncensored Justice System Discussion

JUSTICE1st · Joined: 13 Dec 2007 Posts: 715 Location: USA

In order for any wrongfully convicted defendant to get a new trial citing ineffective assistance of counsel as the basis for how the defendant did NOT get a fair and unbiased trial, one has to know for certain what the standard for "Ineffective Assistance of Counsel" is first.

To that end, I have tried to do a google search and see what information is available online that can assist anyone who has been wrongfully convicted due to I.A.C.

Here is one good link that I discovered; I will add others as I find them.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3975/is_200407/ai_n9454344

Wiggins v. Smith: The Ineffective Assistance of Counsel Standard Applied Twenty Years After Strickland

[Quote from first paragraph]

I. INTRODUCTION

Challenges based on ineffective assistance of counsel are the most frequently filed claims in both federal and state post-conviction relief proceedings. 1 Lawyers have a duty to provide competent representation to each client and are required to act as a competent advisor to the client. 2 This duty is based on the constitutional right to counsel guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment, which the Court has determined includes the right to effective assistance of counsel. 3 The Supreme Court has not laid out what specifically constitutes effective assistance of counsel, so counsel must rely on examples cited in case law and guidelines mentioned by the Court. Although this issue remains clouded today, in 2003 the Supreme Court took a step in clarifying what constitutes ineffective assistance of counsel in the case of Wiggins v. Smith. 4 This Note will first explore the Supreme Court's standard of effective assistance of counsel, which was established in 1984 in Strickland v. Washington. 5 The Note will then discuss the 2003 case of Wiggins v. Smith, focusing on the application of Strickland to a duty to reasonably investigate mitigating evidence in a sentencing hearing. Finally, criticisms of the application of the Strickland standard will be discussed in light of the Wiggins decision.

[End quote]

For full article, click on link above the quote. Read ALL the material provided! At the bottom of the first page, there are at least 12 more page numbers.

It is a lot of information, but it is knowledge well worth having. Make notes on the specifics that the defendant's attorney did or failed to do in the trial that meet the I.A.C. criteria for formally making a motion for a new trial.

J Cool

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"We must remember, always, that accusation is not proof, and conviction depends on evidence and due process of law."
EDWARD R. MURROW, 1954