Armenta-Carpio v. State

OPINION

By the Court,

Parraguirre, J.:

Appellant Javier Armenta-Carpio went to trial facing strong evidence, including his own admissions, that he had sexual contact with a child. Under the circumstances, defense counsel made a strategic decision to concede that there had been some sexual contact between Armenta-Carpio and the victim and to concentrate instead on the extent of the contact and whether the State had charged Armenta-Carpio with more offenses than the evidence could support. After this strategy became apparent during defense counsel’s opening statement, the trial court sua sponte…