Criminal Law: Post-Conviction Relief-Ineffective Assistance of Counsel

Staff Report//September 29, 2023//

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Movant appealed the denial of his motion for post-conviction relief alleging ineffective assistance of counsel due to counsel’s failure to subpoena a witness who could have supported a misidentification defense, or to call a psychiatrist to testify in support of mental disease or diminished capacity defenses or a lower sentence.

Where movant failed to prove that the witness’s testimony could have supported a viable misidentification defense and where the psychiatrist never provided an expert opinion regarding movant’s mental state at the time of his offense, trial counsel was not ineffective for failing to call those witnesses.

Judgment is affirmed.

Zarhouni v. State (MLW No. 80557/Case No. WD85758– 15 pages) (Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District, Martin, J.) Appealed from circuit court, Boone County, Devine, J. (Ellen H. Flottman, Columbia, for appellant) (Nathan Jeremy Aquino, Jefferson City, for respondent)