State v. Dockery

PARKER, Judge.

Defendant’s only assignment of error is that he was denied the effective assistance of counsel guaranteed to all criminal defendants by the Sixth Amendment to the Federal Constitution and Article 1, Section 23 of our State Constitution. The standard for evaluating the effectiveness of appointed counsel in a criminal trial is that of “reasonably effective assistance.” Strickland v. Washington, --- U.S. ---, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed. 2d 674 (1984); State v. Vickers, 306 N.C. 90, 291 S.E. 2d 599 (1982). In Strickland, the United States Supreme Court, for the first time, elaborated…