Green v. Young

In this appeal, a prisoner challenges a circuit court’s dismissal of his petition for a writ of habeas corpus. The issue is whether the prisoner was denied effective assistance of counsel when his attorney failed to object to a jury instruction that allowed the jury to find the prisoner guilty even if the Commonwealth failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt each element of the charged offense. Because we conclude that the prisoner has demonstrated that his trial counsel’s performance was deficient and that the deficient performance prejudiced his defense, we will reverse the judgment of the…