Davis v. State

After the defendant's conviction for burglary of a habitation the trial court should not have granted him a new trial based on his claim of ineffective assistance of counsel for his attorney's failure to request an instruction on accomplice-witness testimony. The question of whether there was a reasonable likelihood that, except for the defense attorney's failure to request the instruction, the result of the guilt stage would have been different did not turn on whether the non-accomplice evidence was enough to tie the defendant to the crime or even whether such evidence alone would support a guilty verdict. The defendant was seen hanging around the victim's apartment complex with the accomplice near the time of the crime. He walked around and acted suspiciously near the victim's apartment for several hours shortly before the crime. Shortly after and not far from the victim's apartment, he sold a video-game player that matched the description of that taken during the burglary. Davis v. State - PD-0613-08.