Schofield v. West Virginia Department of Corrections

INEFFECTIVE ASSISTANCE OF COUNSEL

The majority has placed defense lawyers in a catch-22 — a situation where they’re ineffective if they do, and they’re ineffective if they don’t.

The majority finds that the two defense counsel were ineffective in their approach to the issue of mercy by virtue of their failure to present any substantial evidence or argument on the issue of mercy. But it is also quite easy to imagine the majority finding ineffective assistance of counsel on the same issue had defense counsel failed to follow their client’s wishes.

It is a further irony that the writer of the…