People v. Buchanan

Defendant was convicted, after jury trial, of first-degree murder of his estranged wife who died after Defendant barricaded her and her two children in bedroom, held knife to her throat, and stabbed her 21 times. Defendant was not denied effective assistance of counsel when his appellate counsel failed to argue that witness, who was victim's neighbor and who testified that he heard Defendant tell victim that she was his for life, that she would never leave him, and that he would kill her, had been sentenced to 16 months imprisonment for revocation of probation on DUI conviction and was on supervised release at time of trial. Defendant was not denied effective assistance of counsel when his trial counsel gave his honest assessment of Defendant's case in telling him that if he testified at trial, he would receive a greater sentenced and hurt his chances on appeal. (JORGENSEN and HUDSON, concurring.)