Illinois Appellate Court
Criminal Court
Experts
Ineffective Assistance of Counsel
Defendant, a day-care provider, was convicted of first-degree murder, and 10 expert witnesses were presented as to shaken baby syndrome. Bifurcating of evidentiary Strickland hearing was erroneous, and hearing was incomplete because court excluded the opinions of two medical experts that certain medical records, which indicated victim's predisposition to bleeding, should have been incorporated despite one defense expert's opinion that they should not. Strategic and tactical judgments of counsel are protected under Strickland; at issue is whether counsel adequately exercised his own judgment regarding potential medical evidence and what should have been gathered and how experts' opinions should be assessed.