No. 20-7169

Lawrence Nunley v. Richard Brown

Lower Court: Seventh Circuit
Docketed: 2021-02-19
Status: Denied
Type: IFP
Response WaivedIFP
Tags: child-witness criminal-trial evidence-admission ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel judicial-error prosecutor structural-error testimony trial-counsel witness-testimony
Key Terms:
HabeasCorpus
Latest Conference: 2021-04-01
Question Presented (AI Summary)

Was trial counsel ineffective for silently acquiescing to the structural error, allowing undue emphasis to be placed on the critical testimony, and guaranteeing her client's conviction?

Question Presented (OCR Extract)

QUESTIONS PRESENTED L During the criminal trial, the prosecutor orchestrated a stunt to have a child witness write down the most critical portion of her testimony while on the witness stand. The trial judge, swa sponte, entered the writings into evidence as the Court’s Exhibits, which were made available to the jury ° during deliberations. In doing so, the trial court judge ripped the veil of neutrality and assumed the role of a prosecutor. Was trial counsel ineffective for silently acquiescing to the structural error, allowing undue emphasis to be placed on the critical testimony, and guaranteeing her client’s conviction? Il. Was appellate counsel ineffective for failing to raise the trial court’s : error in allowing the written testimony and entering it into evidence, thereby placing undue emphasis on the testimony and assuming the role of a prosecutor? i

Docket Entries

2021-04-05
Petition DENIED.
2021-03-17
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 4/1/2021.
2021-03-10
Waiver of right of respondent Richard Brown to respond filed.
2021-02-12
Petition for a writ of certiorari and motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis filed. (Response due March 22, 2021)

Attorneys

Lawrence Nunley
Lawrence Nunley — Petitioner
Lawrence Nunley — Petitioner
Richard Brown
Stephen Richard Creason — Respondent
Stephen Richard Creason — Respondent