Smith v. Chandler
Annotate this CaseIn 2017, Erasmus Chandler was found guilty by jury of aggravated child molestation and two counts of child molestation. In 2019, the Court of Appeals affirmed his convictions in an unpublished opinion. Chandler later filed a pro se petition for habeas corpus, which the habeas court granted in 2022 on the ground that Chandler’s appellate counsel provided ineffective assistance at the motion for new trial stage and on appeal, including by failing to raise and prove claims of ineffective assistance of trial counsel. Warden Aimee Smith appealed, arguing that the habeas court erred in admitting an exhibit at the habeas hearing and in determining that Chandler’s appellate counsel provided ineffective assistance. The Georgia Supreme Court found the the warden did not object to the admission of the challenged exhibit for the limited purpose for which it was admitted, and on appeal the warden has not shown plain error in its admission. Moreover, the habeas court properly determined that Chandler’s appellate counsel provided ineffective assistance at the motion for new trial stage and on appeal by failing to raise and prove a claim of ineffective assistance of trial counsel for failing to impeach the alleged victim’s testimony at trial with evidence that she had made prior inconsistent statements about the alleged abuse. Accordingly, the Supreme Court affirmed the habeas court’s grant of relief on this basis.
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