Sunday, April 10, 2011

Michigan Court orders new trial because of ineffective assistance of counsel; Counsel apparently "threw" the case

The Chicago Tribune and Prof. Jonathan Turley are reporting that the Michigan Court of Appeals has found a defense attorney rendered ineffective assistance of counsel after the prosecutor herself raised concerns. The prosecutor claimed that defense counsel told her that defense counsel "held back on her defense" because she thought the defendant was actually guilty. Defense counsel did not deliver an opening statement and did not present a single piece of evidence. She also declined to cross examine the victim and other key witnesses and did not object the prosecutor's use of hearsay evidence. The court concluded that "counsel failed to subject the prosecution’s case to any meaningful adversarial testing." Go here and here for the full story.

If true, the conduct of the defense attorney was shameful. On the other hand, after so many stories of prosecutorial misconduct in the past couple of years, it is refreshing to hear about a prosecutor who takes seriously her duty to make sure that justice is done, not just that convictions are obtained.

The case is People v. Gioglio and it is available here.

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