Bostwick v. Coursey

Petitioner was convicted, after a bench trial, of second-degree assault for hitting a pedestrian with his truck while driving under the influence of alcohol. He subsequently filed a petition for post-conviction relief in which he alleged that his trial counsel had provided constitutionally inadequate counsel by not asking the trial court to consider a conviction for assault in a lesser degree. The post-conviction court granted petitioner his requested relief — a new trial — upon concluding that his trial counsel had unreasonably failed to argue the lesser-included offenses and that petitioner…