In re Williams

¶ 1. This post-conviction relief (PCR) case arises from a tragic fire in an apartment house that caused the deaths of three young children and their grandmother. Petitioner, a resident in the same building, pled guilty to four counts of involuntary manslaughter and was sentenced to serve forty to sixty years in prison. He was nineteen years old at the time of the offense.

¶ 2. Petitioner seeks to vacate his conviction on grounds of ineffective assistance of counsel. Following a twelve-day trial, the civil division ruled that although petitioner’s defense attorney provided adequate…