Smith v. State (Majority)
Annotate this CaseIn 2013, Appellant was convicted of raping a young girl and sentenced to forty years’ imprisonment. The court of appeals affirmed. Appellant subsequently filed a petition for postconviction relief pursuant to Ark. R. Crim. P. 37.1, alleging that his trial counsel provided ineffective assistance. The trial court denied relief, concluding that counsel’s performance was not ineffective. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the circuit court did not err in finding (1) counsel was not ineffective for failing to object to hearsay testimony from witnesses; (2) counsel was not ineffective for failing to object to a sleeping juror; and (3) counsel was not ineffective for failing to call into question the credibility of the alleged victims.
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