Bad, But Not Bad Enough

Having found Appellant's trial defense counsel's performance deficient, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, in Perez v. State (a published opinion) focused on the 2nd prong of the Supreme Court's ineffective assistance standard as laid out in Strickland - whether Appellant was prejudiced by his counsel's performance.  As the Court put it:

To succeed under the prejudice component, Appellant must show that there is a reasonable probability that, but for counsel’s unprofessional errors, the result of the proceeding would have been different.

In Perez, the Appellant failed to establish prejudice because the putative alibi witness' testimony would have been ambiguous at best and may not have changed the outcome of the trial at all.  Accordingly, the Court affirmed Appellant's conviction.  This opinion provides good and concise analysis on the prejudice prong of Strickland - a recommended read for ineffective assistance issues.

On a side note - I apologize for the thin and sporadic posting as of late.  We recently welcomed a new baby into the family and my primary efforts have been elsewhere.