State v. Cowans

We have reviewed the appellant’s propositions of law and independently assessed the evidence presented through both the guilt and penalty phases of the trial. Based upon our review, we affirm Cowans’s convictions and sentence of death.

I. Request to Replace Appointed Counsel

In his first proposition of law, Cowans claims that a breakdown in communications between him and his court-appointed counsel was so serious as to entitle him to have new counsel appointed, and that the trial court’s refusal to do so violated Cowans’s Sixth Amendment right to counsel.

The trial court appointed two attorneys,…