People v. Simpson

Defendant was convicted, after jury trial, of first degree murder in beating death. Ineffective assistance of counsel in failing to object to videotaped statement, that Defendant told him that he beat victim, as substantive evidence that Defendant struck victim numerous times with a bat. As person giving statement had no personal knowledge of beating, out-of-court videotaped statement was not given imprimatur of admissibility required for prior inconsistent statements. Reasonable probability that outcome would have been different, but for defense counsel's ineffectiveness. Eyewitness, age 74, was not able to identify Defendant or codefendant at trial 4 1/2 years after incident.(GARMAN, FREEMAN, KILBRIDE, KARMEIER, BURKE, and THEIS, concurring.)