Monday, August 8, 2016

Most recent acquittal at The Law Offices of Randall J. Craig has us thinking

Recently i received an acquittal on behalf of my client on the charge of child molestation in State v. Diaz Martinez, an Arizona case here in Maricopa County.  I took the case over from another attorney who did not engage in much motion practice on the case and did not look into any lesser included offenses of molestation.  It got me thinking about State v. Speers. This was a child molestation/sexual conduct with a minor case, in which the Arizona Court of Appeals ruled that a trial court erred in post conviction proceedings by summarily dismissing a defendant's ineffective assistance of counsel claim based on former counsel's abandonment of a proposed jury instruction on contributing to the delinquency of a minor as a lesser included offense of molestation.  In reviewing the issues, the Court of Appeals agreed that the a abandonment or acquiescence in omission of the lesser-included instruction was not a reasoned choice among strategic options designed to benefit the client yet appeared to have been improperly based on former counsel's beliefs respecting their duty to the court itself, and that former counsel had failed to properly investigate and develop readily available evidence.  If you have been charged with any criminal offense in Arizona, please call us at 480 767-0400. We are located in Scottsdale, Arizona.  You may also reach us at www.phoenixfelonycriminaldefense.com or www.randalljcraig.com.   #phoenixfelonycriminaldefense

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