Lawrence Nunley v. Richard Brown
HabeasCorpus
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?
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