Workman v. South Carolina
Annotate this CaseIn a joint trial, petitioner Kenneth Workman and codefendant Oshawn Robinson were convicted of assault and battery, conspiracy, possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime, and armed robbery. After petitioner's direct appeal was dismissed pursuant to Anders, petitioner filed an application for post conviction relief (PCR), alleging trial counsel was ineffective in failing to object to a coercive Allen charge and in failing to challenge the trial judge's ruling barring cross-examination of the State's witness, Timothy Wright, regarding the sentencing recommendation Wright received in exchange for testifying against petitioner and Robinson. The PCR judge denied petitioner's application for PCR, finding: (1) petitioner failed to meet his burden of proving trial counsel was ineffective in failing to object to the Allen charge, as the charge was not unduly coercive; and (2) petitioner was not prejudiced by trial counsel's failure to challenge the ruling barring cross-examination regarding Wright's sentence. After review, the Supreme Court found petitioner was prejudiced by trial counsel's deficient performance in failing to object to an unconstitutionally coercive Allen charge; accordingly, the Court granted his petition for a writ of certiorari, dispensed with further briefing, reversed the PCR judge's denial of relief, and remanded for a new trial.
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