People v. Woods

Defendant was convicted, after jury trial, of first degree murder and armed robbery. Defendant claimed counsel was ineffective by conceding, in opening statements, his guilt for armed robbery which in essence was concession of guilt for felony murder. Counsel acted as advocate throughout trial, and did not completely fail to subject State's case to meaningful adversarial testing. As evidence was overwhelming against Defendant, counsel developed strategy arguing that shooting was not foreseeable because police acted irrationally. Defendant failed to adequately show prejudice by counsel's performance and thus cannot prevail on ineffective assistance of counsel claim. (QUINN and CUNNINGHAM, concurring.)