Gary Crawford v. Larry Norris

In 2004, Gary Crawford was tried in the Circuit Court of Jackson County, Arkansas on charges of kidnapping and rape. The jury found Crawford guilty of both charges, and he was sentenced to twenty-eight years’ imprisonment. Crawford filed a petition for post-conviction relief under Rule 37.1 of the Arkansas Rules of Criminal Procedure, claiming, among other things, that his counsel was ineffective because he did not call A1 Hamdini as a witness. According to Crawford, Hamdini would have testified that he saw Crawford leave Hamdini’s shop in a car with the twelve-year-old victim and the…