Myers v. Neal

Dist. Ct. erred in granting defendant’s habeas petition that challenged his murder conviction on ground that his counsel was ineffective by: (1) making false promises to jury in his opening statement about what evidence would show; (2) failing to object to unreliable bloodhound evidence that placed victim near defendant’s home and effectively countermanded defendant’s alibi defense; and (3) failed to object to expert testimony suggesting that victim was raped. While Ct. of Appeals agreed with Dist. Ct. that defendant’s counsel’s actions/inactions fell short of legal profession’s objective standards for reasonably effective representation, it further found that defendant failed to establish any prejudice in his counsel’s actions, where record contained substantial evidence of defendant’s guilt that included evidence establishing, among other things, that victim’s bicycle was found near defendant’s home, as well as defendant’s own inculpatory statements to several individuals that suggested that he had killed victim. As such, jury would have reached same conclusion absent his counsel’s errors.