People v. Clark

Defendant entered guilty plea to attempted murder, and claimed ineffective assistance of counsel. Defense counsel had failed to contact victim, who stated in affidavit that defense counsel failed to return her phone calls, and that she was willing to testify in support of insanity defense that Defendant was not taking his medication for mental illness at time of incident. Factual basis for plea did not include that victim would testify that Defendant did not mean to harm her and that his actions were due to his mental illness. Court's admonishments were insufficient, and thus do not overcome showing of ineffective assistance of counsel. That some statements in victim's affidavit might be inadmissible hearsay does not necessarily mean that victim could not otherwise support defense. (HUTCHINSON and ZENOFF, concurring.)