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68. What more, if anything, must the trial court find in order to sustain the defendant's Sixth Amendment claim?
The defendant timely moved for postconviction relief under the Sixth Amendment on the ground that his attorney had provided ineffective assistance of counsel. The trial judge, after a hearing, found that the attorney had performed deficiently by failing to raise a proper objection that would have resulted in exclusion of important prosecution evidence.
A defendant was convicted of fraud after a jury trial in state court. The conviction was affirmed on direct appeal.
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C is correct. In order to sustain the defendant's ineffective assistance of counsel claim, the trial court must find a reasonable probability that, had the attorney objected, the outcome of the trial would have been different. In other words, «but for» the attorney's ineffective assistance, the defendant would have prevailed (this is also referred to as «prejudice»). The facts do establish deficient performance in that the attorney failed to object. But an ineffectiveness claim requires the second prong, «prejudice,» to be shown as well.
A is incorrect. This is incorrect, as the current findings are not sufficient on their own to sustain an ineffective assistance of counsel claim. The court must still find prejudice, meaning «but for» the deficient performance, there is a reasonable probability that the outcome would have been different.
B is incorrect. The standard of competency and right to adequate counsel is no different for court-appointed or public attorneys than for private attorneys. The Sixth Amendment requires effective assistance, irrespective of the source of the funding or payment for criminal legal services. To have a different standard for public attorneys would discriminate against indigent defendants without the ability to hire an attorney.
D is incorrect. This answer states the incorrect standard for granting an ineffectiveness claim during the post-conviction stage. As explained above, the correct standard is that there is a reasonable probability the outcome would have been different, as established by Strickland, not «clear and convincing evidence.»