Maryland’s Court of Appeals has reinstated Adnan Syed’s conviction in the murder of Hae Min Lee.
From the court filing [PDF Link]:
State of Maryland v. Adnan Syed, No. 24, September Term, 2018. Opinion by Greene, J.
CRIMINAL LAW—POST CONVICTION—INEFFECTIVE ASSISTANCE OF TRIAL
COUNSEL—FAILURE OF TRIAL COUNSEL TO INTERVIEW POTENTIAL ALIBI
WITNESS—STRICKLAND V. WASHINGTON
The Court of Appeals held that under the deficient performance prong of Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984), at a minimum, Respondent’s trial counsel had a duty to contact a potential alibi witness to investigate or explore that person’s background and potential
as an alibi. The failure of Respondent’s trial counsel to contact an alibi witness identified by Respondent constituted deficient performance under the first prong of the Strickland test. The second prong of the Strickland test asks whether trial counsel’s deficient performance resulted in prejudice. The Court of Appeals held that given the totality of the evidence against Respondent, there was not a significant or substantial possibility that the jury would have reached a different verdict had his trial counsel presented the alibi witness.CRIMINAL LAW—POST CONVICTION—INEFFECTIVE ASSISTANCE OF TRIAL
COUNSEL—APPLICATION OF WAIVER PRINCIPLESThe Court of Appeals held that an individual who advanced a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel in his post-conviction petition, filed pursuant to the Uniform Postconviction Procedure Act, but failed to assert all grounds upon which that claim is made, cannot later assert other grounds upon which the ineffective assistance of counsel claim could have been premised.
Thus, the Court held that the waiver provision of the Uniform Post-Conviction Procedure Act, Criminal Procedure Article, § 7-106(a), applied in this case to bar an allegation upon which the ineffective assistance of counsel claim could have been argued but was not, because the Respondent’s ineffective assistance of counsel claims had already been fully litigated.
