Thebeau v. State

At the February 2, 1970 appearance in circuit court, where the court ruled defendant competent to proceed in the criminal trial, original appointed counsel candidly stated, “Judge, my heart’s not in it” and “I haven’t taken too much care to prepare the case.”1 With this limited interest on part of counsel, it is not surprising important possibilities were overlooked or that defendant was seeking to change counsel.

In my opinion, counsel’s self-characterization of his representation is not inaccurate, and I do not see how this kind of representation can be held to be the effective assistance of…