Hill v. Commonwealth

Efficiency dictates that an assertion of ineffective assistance of counsel should be addressed in a post-trial motion for a new trial. Such a claim, presented in an original trial proceeding and reviewed on direct appeal, is a faster, simpler means of reviewing a criminal conviction and bars a later collateral attack in a petition for a writ of habeas corpus. This, I believe, was the intent of Code § 19.2-317.1.

Usually, a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel cannot be asserted in a direct appeal because the attorney representing the defendant also represented him in the trial court and…