The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has denied a Michigan defendant’s petition for habeas corpus, finding that his attorneys were effective at his criminal trial, even though they did not investigate an “acetaminophen-based defense” and did not call an expert witness.

A father convicted of sexually abusing his young daughter was denied his right to confrontation under the Sixth Amendment, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled, because the trial court did not first make a finding that “screened” testimony of the child victim, which was allowed by state law, was necessary.

The father in this termination of parental rights case did not have standing to claim that his child’s attorney provided ineffective assistance of counsel.

A defendant’s failure to satisfy the plain-error test regarding a trial court’s alleged error doesn’t, by itself, prohibit the defendant from bringing an ineffective assistance of counsel claim.

The MI Supreme Court’s decision in People v Ackley shows just how crucial it is for defense lawyers to adequately investigate their client’s case and make good use of expert witnesses.