Sussman v. Jenkins

Dist. Ct. erred in denying defendant's habeas petition challenging his conviction for child sexual assault on ground that his trial counsel was ineffective for failing to file required pre-trial motion seeking admissibility of evidence that alleged victim of assault had made prior false accusations of sexual assault against others. Proposed evidence should have been admissible had counsel made required motion since said evidence directly implicated defendant's rights under Confrontation Clause to expose alleged victim's motive to fabricate lie about assault, and counsel's failure to file said pre-trial motion was prejudicial where alleged victim's testimony was central to prosecution's case against defendant. Moreover, record showed that counsel's failure to file pre-trial motion was not part of any strategy, but rather was result of counsel forgetting to file said motion.