Montgomery v. State
Annotate this CaseAppellant James Montgomery was convicted of rape of his six-year-old adopted granddaughter and was sentenced to twenty-five years' imprisonment. Appellant subsequently filed a petition for postconviction relief, raising several allegations of ineffective assistance of counsel. The circuit court denied the petition without a hearing. The Supreme Court reversed and remanded in part, holding (1) the circuit court erred in denying Appellant's petition without first holding a hearing where Appellant's trial counsel failed to object to testimony asserting the credibility of the accuser; (2) the circuit court erred in not considering Appellant's argument that trial counsel was ineffective in failing to object to improper testimony about patterns of behavior of child-sexual-abuse victims and finding that Appellant's objection to the testimony was not supported by specific facts; and (3) it was error for the circuit court to deny relief without first holding a hearing on Appellant's argument that trial counsel was ineffective in failing to call Appellant's son as a witness at trial.
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