State v. Van Cleave

BOEHM, Justice.

The State appeals from a grant of postcon-viction relief to defendant Gregory Van Cleave. The postconviction court vacated Van Cleave’s 1983 guilty plea for felony murder and the accompanying death sentence on the ground that Van Cleave had been denied his constitutional right to effective assistance of counsel. The State appeals only the reversal of the conviction. As explained below, we hold today that a defendant must demonstrate a reasonable probability of acquittal at trial to establish the “prejudice” from counsel’s performance necessary to vacate a conviction resulting…