Dunn v. Jess

Dist. Ct. did not err in granting defendant’s habeas petition challenging his felony murder conviction on ground that his trial counsel was ineffective for failing to investigate and present evidence that supported no-causation defense to felony murder charge. Record showed that: (1) although defendant slapped victim, which caused him to fall and hit his head on parking lot pavement, witness saw victim walk away to different area of lot, where victim was found dead hours later; and (2) trial counsel held mistaken belief that medical examiner would testify that victim’s death was immediate so as to support defendant’s defense that his encounter with victim did not cause victim’s death, and that someone else caused victim’s death. As such, Dist. Ct. could properly find that defendant’s trial counsel performed deficiently, where counsel was poorly informed and based his strategic decisions on complete misunderstanding of medical examiner’s opinion on issue regarding immediacy of death, where medical examiner ultimately testified that all of victim’s injuries, including injuries sustained in defendant's encounter with victim, contributed to victim’s death. Moreover, trial counsel’s decision not to call expert to support defendant’s claim that someone else had to have caused victim’s death was prejudicial, where: (1) medical examiner did not support defendant’s claim; and (2) defendant’s expert would have provided favorable testimony that conflicted with medical examiner’s testimony. Fact that trial counsel believed that such expert testimony was unnecessary because he could obtain favorable testimony from medical examiner did not require different result.