Lockhart v. State
Annotate this CaseA jury convicted Appellant Melvin Lockhart of first-degree murder and theft of property. The court of appeals affirmed, holding that because Appellant did not move for a directed verdict on the offense of first-degree felony murder, the court was precluded from reaching the issue of sufficiency of the evidence. Appellant subsequently filed a motion for postconviction relief, alleging, among other things, that his trial counsel was ineffective for failing to move for a directed verdict. The circuit court denied Appellant's petition. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding the circuit court properly denied Appellant's petition where (1) Appellant did not demonstrate that he was prejudiced by trial counsel's error in failing to make a directed-verdict motion; and (2) Appellant failed to show that trial counsel prejudiced the defense with respect to Appellant's not testifying at trial.
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