State v. Rainer (Majority, with Dissenting)
Annotate this CaseAfter a jury trial, Appellant was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to eighty years in prison. The court of appeals affirmed. Appellant subsequently filed a petition for postconviction relief pursuant to Ark. R. Crim. P. 37 alleging ineffective assistance of counsel. The circuit court granted relief and ordered a new trial, concluding that Appellant’s trial counsel was ineffective for failing to renew a challenge to the circuit court’s decision to exclude evidence of the victim’s prior act of violence, thus depriving Appellant of his opportunity to present a complete defense. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that the circuit court’s initial decision to exclude the evidence was not in error, and therefore, there was no basis on which to grant postconviction relief.
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