State v. Poindexter

BRADY, Justice.

This Court must address two dispositive issues: (1) whether the failure of defendant’s attorneys to present a diminished capacity defense during the guilt-innocence phase of defendant’s 2002 capital trial for first-degree murder constituted ineffective assistance of counsel, and (2) whether the superior court lacked jurisdiction to conduct the evidentiary hearing with respect to defendant’s motion for appropriate relief (MAR) to adjudicate defendant mentally retarded under N.C.G.S. § 15A-2005. We determine that defendant’s 2002 trial counsel was not constitutionally ineffective…