Hinton v. Alabama

How courts have described this case

Verbatim parenthetical descriptions written by other courts when citing this decision. Ranked by citation-network relevance.

• holding that counsel rendered ineffective assistance by failing apparently to understand relevant law relating to expert testimony at trial
• holding that “counsel has a duty to make reasonable investigations or to make a reasonable decision that makes particular investigations unnecessary”
• holding that the selection of an expert witness is the paradigmatic example of the type of strategic choice that, when made after a thorough investigation of the law and facts, is virtually unchallengeable
• holding that \the unreasonable failure to understand the resources that state law made available to [defense counsel]-that caused counsel to employ an expert that he himself deemed inadequate\-was an \inexcusable mistake of law\
• explaining that the Sixth Amendment right to counsel means “that defendants are entitled to be represented by an attorney who meets at least a minimal standard of competence”
• explaining that “choices made after less than complete investigation are reasonable precisely to the extent that reasonable professional judg- ments support the limitations on investigation”

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).