Hilton v. Commissioner of Correction

The petitioner, who had previously been convicted of murder, appealed, on the granting of certification, from the habeas court's judgment denying his petition for a writ of habeas corpus. The petitioner claimed, inter alia, that the court improperly concluded that his second criminal trial counsel, S, did not provide ineffective assistance of counsel when he made a decision not to present the testimony of G, the petitioner's former girlfriend and mother of his child, who had offered alibi testimony at the petitioner's first criminal trial. Held: The habeas court correctly concluded, in light of all of the evidence, that S made a reasoned, strategic choice, after a thorough investigation, not to pre- sent both an alibi defense and a misidentification defense, as S investigated G as an alibi witness, considered her relationship to the petitioner, and determined that she would not make a good witness, and, instead, focused his defense on challenging the police investigation and the state's identifi- cation evidence. The habeas court did not err in its determination that S's conduct in failing to present an alibi defense at the petitioner's second criminal trial did not constitute deficient performance. The habeas court did not abuse its discretion in sustaining the objection of the respondent's counsel to a hypothetical question posed to an expert witness for the petitioner related to S's allegedly deficient performance, as the question could not reasonably be separated from the essence of the ultimate issue that was before the court, namely, whether the standard of care required S to present the alibi defense. Argued March 26, 2025—officially released February 10, 2026

Criminal law—Ineffective assistance of counsel—When defense counsel fails to request that the trial court waive court costs on behalf of a defendant who has previously been found to be indigent, a determination of prejudice in an ineffective-assistance-of-counsel analysis depends on whether the facts and circumstances presented by the defendant establish that there is a reasonable probability that the trial court would have granted the request to waive court costs had one been made—Court of appeals' judgment reversed and cause remanded.

ASSAAD, 23 I&N Dec. 553 (BIA 2003) ID 3487 (PDF) (1) Case law of the United States Supreme Court holding, in the context of criminal proceedings, that there can be no deprivation of effective assistance of counsel where there is no constitutional right to counsel does not require withdrawal from Matter of Lozada, 19 I&N Dec. 637 (BIA 1988), aff’d, 857 F.2d 10 (1st Cir. 1988), finding a right to assert a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel in immigration proceedings, where the United States Courts of Appeals have recognized that a respondent has a Fifth Amendment due process right to a fair immigration hearing, which may be denied if counsel prevents the respondent from meaningfully presenting his or her case. (2) The respondent did not establish that his former counsel’s failure to file a timely appeal constituted sufficient prejudice to warrant consideration of his late appeal on the basis of ineffective assistance of counsel.