Benham v. State

I respectfully submit that the majority misapprehends the statutory parameters of the defense of habitation and, as a result, it does not properly analyze Appellant’s claim that her trial counsel was ineffective. An accurate understanding of that defense demands the conclusion that, even if Appellant’s trial counsel had requested a jury instruction on the defense, there is no reasonable probability that the outcome of the trial would have been different. Therefore, Appellant has not met the prejudice prong of Strickland v. Washington, 466 *519U. S. 668 (104 SC 2052, 80 LE2d 674) (1984), and the…