Ferguson v. State
Annotate this CaseFollowing a jury trial, Appellant was convicted of first-degree premeditated murder and attempted first-degree premeditated murder. After Appellant's first petition for postconviction relief was denied, Appellant filed a second postconviction petition. After a hearing, the postconviction court denied Appellant's petition. Appellant appealed, contending (1) the postconviction court erred in concluding that an affidavit from a recanting witness is inadmissible hearsay, and (2) he was denied the effective assistance of counsel during the postconviction proceedings. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) the postconviction court did not abuse its discretion in excluding the affidavit, as Appellant failed to establish corroborating circumstances clearly indicating the trustworthiness of Appellant's affidavit; and (2) Appellant did not have a constitutional right to effective assistance of postconviction counsel, and therefore, his ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claim failed as a matter of law.
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