Newsome v. State
Annotate this CaseAfter a jury trial, Appellant Wardell Newsome was found guilty of first-degree murder. Appellant subsequently filed a petition for postconviction relief, which the circuit court denied after an evidentiary hearing. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) the circuit court did not err in determining that defense counsel's decision not to call a firearms expert who could have tested and compared shell casings found at the crime scene following the murder with a handgun that was recovered six months later was a strategic one and not an omission resulting in effective assistance of counsel; and (2) the circuit court properly denied Appellant's petition for postconviction relief where counsel's potential errors in failing to pursue information regarding a potential eyewitness who could have provided exculpatory testimony did not establish a reasonable probability that the outcome of the trial would have been different.
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