Hall v. Warden, Lee Arrendale State Prison

A claim of ineffective assistance of counsel “is an attack on the fundamental fairness of the proceeding whose result is challenged.” Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 697, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 2070, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984). The claim in this case is that appellate counsel rendered ineffective assistance under Strickland by failing to assert on direct appeal a violation of Hall’s right under the Georgia Constitution to be present at a critical stage of her murder trial, which is structural error under Georgia law. See Griffin v. Terry, 291 Ga. 326, 729 S.E.2d 334, 336 (2012). The Georgia…